Man seeks holiday season giving 3 cheers for red, white and blue

The Youngstown residents want to create a patriotic season of three holidays.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Joe Nazarini is certain there used to be parades and ceremonies honoring Old Glory on Flag Day.
Friday morning, however, the Youngstown resident was joined by only two other people downtown as he worked to make Flag Day a national holiday.
Nazarini wasn't really surprised by the sparse gathering.
"Most of the people who want to be here can't be, because they have to work," he said.
Honor and respect
It's not just a day off work or another day for department stores to have sales that Nazarini is looking for, though. He wants Flag Day to be recognized as a national holiday to give the flag the honor and respect it's due.
"My dad always closed his grocery store on Flag Day," Nazarini said. "I was probably 14 or 15 before I realized not everyone did that."
Nazarini is looking for legislators to help him create a "patriotic season" with a trilogy of warm-weather holidays: Memorial Day, Flag Day and the Fourth of July.
After spending weeks gathering signatures on petitions for the change, Nazarini joined forces with members of the Judson Citizens Watch on Friday in front of the George Voinovich Government Center on Federal Street.
Mariae Brooks and Bill Watterson, president and vice president of the block watch, said the flag is a symbol of everything about America, good and bad.
"People think the flag is a symbol of the government, and it's not that at all," said Watterson. "It's a symbol of the country, and the country is its people."
Brooks, who began flying her own flag at her home last July 4, pointed out that when tragedies happen at home or especially overseas, it's the American flag people look to for help.
"There's a beauty in that, no matter what our ethnicity is, we are all still Americans," she said.
The right time
"This is a perfect place where patriotism can grow again," Nazarini said. He pointed out that since the Sept. 11 terrorist tasks, Americans have displayed more patriotism, but that Youngstown always had reason to do so.
"Look at our steel mills," he said. "Without them could we have won [World War II]?"
Nazarini will continue to collect signatures, but also urges residents to call local, state and federal politicians to push for the recognition of Flag Day as a national holiday.
"We even faxed our request to the president," he said. "It took us four hours to get through to the White House, but we did it."
Watterson said he knows the grass-roots effort will eventually pay off.
"This is going to happen, I have no doubt about it," he said. "And we will be able to tell people that this came from Youngstown, and that will give us something new to be proud about."
slshaulis@vindy.com