Posted on 08/03/2009 2:09:24 PM PDT by Brandonmark
The city today scrapped plans to take down some of its 60 odd flags after the mayor and city council members received a barrage of angry emails and telephone calls over the weekend, some of them from veterans.
City Manager Bill Horne's staff had recommended slightly more than a dozen flags – out of 59 – be removed to save the city money. Some flags were on property no longer maintained by the city. Others were at maintenance buildings or the like that were far out of the public eye.
Mayor Frank Hibbard and city council members were rankled that they heard of the plan from the media and constituents rather than the city staff itself, and Hibbard scolded Horne for keeping city officials out of the loop.
Horne promptly apologized.
"I will take that one squarely on the chin," Horne said. "I make thousands of decisions on a weekly basis, and every now and then I make a wrong one.''
But while that mea culpa appeared to satisfy the mayor and three city council members, it did not stop the fourth councilman, George Cretekos, from piling on Horne.
"I am troubled that he, as a retired Air Force colonel, would believe that approving this recommendation of the staff was the right decision and could be done discreetly without embarrassing the city and its residents," Cretekos said.
Horne apologized to anyone who might have taken umbrage at Old Glory disappearing from any location.
"My actions [were] never intended to offend veterans," said Horne. "I am a veteran."
So far, only one flag pole, at the Memorial Causeway, has been taken down, after citizens complained the lighting illuminating it wasn't in compliance with federal code, said Rick Carnley, assistant director of general services for the city. City staff members said they were trying to rectify that problem, with an eye toward perhaps erecting a shorter flag pole.
Over the weekend, flags were notably missing from the other 13 locations discussed at a city workshop this morning – like the one at Sand Key Bay Park.
Now, Horne's entire plan has been scratched, which means the flags have to go back up at those locations. Horne's staff is expected to take a look at the issue anew.
Over the weekend, as Horne's plan was publicized, he and other city leaders have been attacked as unpatriotic amd un-American. Outrage has manifested itself in e-mails and telephone calls, and Cretekos said a 92-year-old World War II veteran who stormed Normandy showed up at his door to address the issue.
I had read here that all but the last of the poles had been taken down...
Yes, the earlier story sounded like it was too late to keep the poles.
“Everybody likes to build, nobody likes to maintain.”
That’s an old engineer’s saying about maintenance practices.
If a US flag cannot be properly maintained, IT SHOULD NOT BE FLOWN.
I’d take it on a case by case basis, but if the city isn’t going to take care of these flags, they shouldn’t be flown.
What a patriot. He gave his measure in the 1940s and still has to confront jerks back home to keep the flag flying. I hope he used appropriate language to set the politician straight.
Bet the old guy isn't part of the brie and wine set.
/johnny
FRIGGIN TRAITORS!! ALL!!
While I appreciate you candor Mr. Horne, I gotta call BS on your "thousands of decisions on a weekly basis."
Assuming you work a standard 40 hour week:
1000 decisions / 5 days = 200 decisions per day
200 decisions per day / eight hours = 25 decisions per hour
25 decisions per hour / 60 minutes in an hour =
well... I think you can see where this is going. How 'bout hundreds of decisions per week.
Probably campaigned for him as well...probably cursing the cracker city council under his breath.
Apparently it’s an easy decision to make if you don’t really give a smoke about it.
The way I look at it is: If the city isn't going to take care of these flags then the officials running the city should be dumped! Vote 'em out.
Clearwater is long the bastion of Scientology, a vigorously anti American cult. There have been notorious crimes committed with the full complicity of the county’s governing officials. That they are not trusted by the citizenry should not surprise anyone.
I bet that 'my foot and your ass' was discussed.
True, true. Better to use the flagpoles for hoisting recalcitrant city officials, and then going back to flying flags properly.
Tall, tall tree flagpole, short piece of rope is a VERY old saying down here.
/johnny
God Bless that veteran. I'm sure he was ready to storm city hall too.
I really think this is more common than most people think.
City officials get the great idea (or are pressured) to build more and more “monuments” (including flagpoles) than they can expect to maintain.
I’ve been to a lot of cities where they decided it would be great to place banners on every light pole down the main street of the town. Hundreds of them. After a year or so, they look like crap (faded, torn, etc.) and the city doesn’t have the resources to replace them, nor the manpower resources to remove them.
I’d rather live in a city with ONE flagpole, properly maintained and illuminated (per regulations) that the people can be proud of.
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