Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow ...

Amherst College Johnson Chapel

The American flag is again in that unmistakable position of mourning, this time for three police officers in Baton Rouge gunned down in a cowardly ambush that would have take the lives of any of us.

 Click to enlarge/read

Over the past two weeks, after the mass police killing in Dallas and the truck slaughter of civilians in France, our flag has been at full staff for only a day.  

In this despicable time of terrorism it easily could have been any of us. If you target those who protect us from evil, surely we all could be next.

As we saw so graphically illustrated that terrible morning 15 years ago.

Another Sad Story

Amherst College flag on Chapel Hill today

Yesterday in a statement to the Amherst College community President Biddy Martin broke the sad news of the sudden passing of popular employee Pema Tsering, and today their majestic flag atop Johnson Chapel is in mourning.

And since Amherst College is a private entity they are entitled to do whatever they want with their American flag, unlike state of federal institutions.

Either way, flag police are forgiving when the cause is just.

What so proudly we hailed...

-----Original Message-----
From: Anthony Marx
To: amherstac@aol.com
Sent: Fri, 5 Jun 2009 2:29 pm
Subject: Your majestic American flag on Chapel Hill

Dear Larry,

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I believe that it is important for the College to honor courageous Americans in accordance with state and federal edicts. We have been working to improve our observance of proper flag protocol, as I see you noted on Memorial day. I have asked staff in the Public Affairs office to subscribe to the state listserve you mention. They will also conduct further research into all federal guidelines regarding display of the flag and be sure to act in accordance with them.

Thanks again for writing, and best wishes for an enjoyable summer.

Yours,
Tony Marx

From: amherstac@aol.com
To: marx@amherst.edu
Sent: Fri, 5 Jun 2009 3:06 pm
Subject: Re: Your majestic American flag on Chapel Hill

Hey Tony,

Thanks! I and plenty of other caring Amherst residents will applaud this. That particular flag is so majestic and so well placed...

And yeah, you did great on Memorial Day (W-A-Y better than the town of Amherst.)

All you really need do is to subscribe to the state listserve as it covers both Federal and Governor ordered lowerings. And Suzzette--the person in charge--honestly cares.

Thanks again (you too have a great summer)

Larry

PS: The next official Federal lowering is 9/11 (and I believe you lost some alumni that awful day.)

Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 3:09 PM
To: Anthony Marx; sh.events@state.ma.us
Subject: Your majestic American flag on Chapel Hill

Hey Tony,

So Wednesday was one of those state-wide local edicts issued by our Governor to fly the flag at half-staff, commemorating the ultimate sacrifice of Massachusetts resident Explosive Ordinance Disposalman John Trahan, age 22--and with that "job description" you can imagine how he died (at least it was quick.)

But today is Peace Officers' Day--and the President of the United States has ordered all flags to half-staff to commemorate those men and women in blue who have also given up their "last measure of devotion" to keep us safe.

Your flag on Chapel Hill is the most prominent in Amherst. Could you maybe please (since the College tends to bring it down to half-staff for employees) subscribe to the Mass state listserve for those rare occasions when the Governor orders it down, and also observe the Federal ones as well (also rare) for flag protocol? Memorial Day is coming up.

Top be perfectly honest, it's kind of embarrassing.

Larry Kelley


Memorial Day 2009
I should also note the main town American flag in town center stayed down at half-staff for an entire week. Amherst College got theirs back up around 10 minutes after noon on Memorial Day (protocol calls for it to return to full-staff at noon, and lots of folks keep it at half-staff till dusk, like all the other Federal remembrances.)