[MANU1304]

I just recently had a small problem today at my son's school, but to me it needed to be corrected and not passed off as oh well. Today as I was dropping my sons off at their school in Youngsville I noticed several kids putting up the Flag. As the kids attached the Flag they noticed it was ubside down about halfway up the pole. The kids, 2 of them being Hispanic, just pointed and kept raising it. They tied it off and walked away. Now my boys are 6 and 7 and they told me it was wrong. I told them yes and that I'll tell the teachers that were standing outside. As I told the teachers they looked at it and said "Why yes it is upside down" then they snickered and went back to drinking their coffee. I drove off and called one of my buddies that was working on the Police Dept. in town and asked him to swing by in about 10 minutes to see if it was corrected. He told me he'd take care of it. It is apparent he did not care either as I returned about a hour later to see it still up side down. Now after calling the school and the main head quaters and getting no where I took it upon myself to fix the problem. As I was fixing the Flag several parents noticed what I was doing and said the school should of done something about it themselves. I'm sorry but I'm also a Vet. and a Law Enforcement Officer and I really don't appreciate the Flag being done that way and just passed off as "Oh Well". Maybe I have issues.... but they are my issues! Sorry I just had to vent.

[MANU1304]

P.S. I also failed to mention.. The flag is need of replacement badly. As I was fixing the Flag I noted several hole and tears. I will be buying a new Flag myself since the school seems to not care and will carry it up there myself.

[american_flag_uk]

i can understand your frustration over this issue

i do not live in the US nor am american but it is my understanding 1st of all that schools are governed by the state- and as such the flag - that is required by law to be flown at every school -should be treated correctly and for the school staff to ensure this and appoint trustworthy students to take care of the flag

i would alert the school principle to this concern and if he doesnt take notice could you go higher up? to the school governers or whoever takes care of the schools in the area?
was your police friend perhaps caught up with somthing else that stopped him from going to the school?

if this is a regular occurance the something needs to be done about it
caan you get in touch with the state governer?? - ive spoken to the state governer of Kentucky on the phone from here in England before!

i hope this gets sorted out
keep us informed of whats going on!

[MANU1304]

Hey thanks for the reply. I did speak to the principle and higher up. Anyway I hope it doesn't happen again. The flag upside down has a special meaning to us prior military and Law Enforcement. It means help we are under distress. Ex. Hostages and such. I think if I would of showed up with all my partners in our Tac. gear looking for the trouble makers they would of freaked out, not knowing they are the reason we are here.

[Veryoriginal]

I would like to know why the cheerleaders from the University of Georgia ran with the American Flag to bring their football team into the Super Dome. It was as if they were playing a team from another country. Although I was at the game and not for either team, my son was a member of one of the bands that won at the Camellia Band Festival and was playing at halftime, I was offended by the lack of respect displayed by these college students.

[american_flag_uk]

Very - hi there welcome to the forum

what did the college students do was offensive towards he flag?
running with it is not bad or offensive unless it was dragging on the ground or something

[wpowell]

I have a question, Can a USA flag be sown to fix the tattered ends? and what are some alternatives to burning to retire a flag?

[JLange]

Originally Posted by wpowell

I have a question, Can a USA flag be sown to fix the tattered ends? and what are some alternatives to burning to retire a flag?

Yes you can repair your flag, we do it every day. A general rule of thumb is that the stripes stay twice as long as the stars. This may not be entirely perfect to code, but it will make a good standby while you order a new one.

There are no alternatives to properly disposing of a worn or tattered flag but by ceremonially and respectfully burning the flag. Check out some of the other links on this site, flag disposal is discussed on a regular basis. I remember as a Boy Scout in the 60's we made quite a bit of pomp and circumstance using the Boy Scout guidelines for the ceremony.

JOhn ><>

[Peter Ansoff]

There are no alternatives to properly disposing of a worn or tattered flag but by ceremonially and respectfully burning the flag.

Actually, this is not quite so. The flag code says only that the flag "should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning." This was written before there were flags made of synthetic fabrics, and burning those can actually be dangerous.

The key word, of course, is "dignified." If circumstances require, it's OK to bury a flag, or dispose of it in an opaque container such as a bag or a box. It's not OK to use it as a rag, or to just throw it in a dumpster, or to do anything else that would cause it to be seen in an undignified setting.

Peter Ansoff