[jacnmac]

I am a newbie and hope someone can help me. I live in a city that has taken down the light that was shining on the U. S. Flag. I and many others think this is most disrespectful. No one at City Hall seems to be very interested in correcting the problem. I am wanting to know if there is some kind of a penalty that can be imposed on the city to force them to illuminate this flag.
Thanks.

[Robin Hickman]

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Hello, jacnmac !

Welcome to the USA-Flag-Site Forums !


I'm sorry, but there really isn't anything that you or anybody else can do to legally force the City to illuminate their American Flag at night. At least not in court. While the subject of Flag Illumination at night is addressed in the "Flag Code", there are no enforcement provisions or penalties for non-compliance.

However, in the "Court of Public Opinion", there is a LOT that you can do !!!

Do your best to present the problem to the Mayor and the members of the City Council. If your city has a "City Manager", present your case to him/her too. Get whoever (however many of "them" there are) is concerned about "fixing" this problem to do the same thing.

Remember, there are probably a lot of Veterans and Veterans' groups and Fraternal organizations that will more than likely be willing to help you get this thing taken care of. You just have to make sure they KNOW about it!

If the problem does NOT get taken care of "behind the scenes", then take it "public". Get everybody to attend a City Council meeting and get it on the Agenda, or get the people there to speak to the issue if there is a "slot" in the agenda for "public comments". While city bureaucrats might tend to ignore one or two disgruntled citizens, politicians will probably sit up and take notice! ESPECIALLY if there are a LOT more than just one or two citizens.

IF there is STILL no action, the next logical step is the local media: TV News, Radio (local news & talk), and newspapers.

Remember, you don't have to get "nasty" about it. Be "friendly", but persistent. Start small and if one thing doesn't work then take it up a notch and try that. In cases like this (involving the U.S. Flag) politicians and bureaucrats tend to be very sensitive to "public opinion". NONE of them want to be seen as "un-patriotic" !!!

Good Luck !!!

Let us know what happens !!!


BTW : WHERE do you live ???


Thank you for bringing your Flag-related question to our Forums !!!


Robin Hickman
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