V. David Sartin of The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Mayor Madeline Cain of suburban Lakewood ordered workers to install a new flagpole outside City Hall to avoid flying a gay pride flag below Old Glory. The City Council had agreed earlier to fly a gay banner to recognize Lakewood's large homosexual community. Prior to the mayor's edict, it was expected that the banner would fly on the same pole as the US flag along with a banner commemorating American prisoners of war.
The gay pride/two flagpole controversy has sparked a local firestorm. One resident, Jerry Murphy, offered the following:
"Now that you have that rag on a stick up there, you open up a door to all the other strange groups, like the Nazis . . . ."
Mr. Murphy's comment is quite true in that neither the mayor nor the City Council established criteria for who may hoist flags nor which flags are acceptable.
This whole story is disturbing. The Lakewood City Council and Mayor created the problem and it looks like it's going to grow in intensity. They should have adopted a policy that specified only the US flag and the Ohio flag are permitted to be flown in front of City Hall. Instead, they decided to use public property to advertise for special interests, this time, the homosexuals, next time, some other group. The problem is not going to go away.
When the public elects boneheads to office, there should be no surprise when everything turns into crap.
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