Struthers Rotary to leave flags standing

September 15, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

STRUTHERS

The killing of four Americans in a Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya and anti-U.S. protests and American-flag burning in the Middle East and around the world prompted the Struthers Rotary Club to leave “standing tall” 320 American flags it placed in front of 320 homes and businesses in the city before Labor Day.

The Struthers Rotary placed the flags before Labor Day to be left up through Sept. 11, the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., and had planned to remove them this weekend, said Bryan Higgins, chairman of the Struthers Rotary Club’s Flag Committee.

But in an email to club members, he wrote:

“I began this evening writing an update about our scheduled flag removal this weekend, and to ask for your help on Sunday.

“But as I began writing, the television news was playing images of violent protesters burning our flags around the world … and it occurred to me that with the events of this past week, this is not the time to take down our 300-plus American flags!

“Instead we should tell our community that our flags will stand tall in their front yards for a while longer because of these events. They can burn our flag … but we will put up another, and another, and another,” said Higgins, vice president of and a partner in Team Office Technologies in Austintown.

“We should keep them flying high during this turbulent time, and let the news media know why, and ask our surrounding Rotary Clubs to do the same,” he said.

Placing U.S. flags in front of homes is a fundraising project for the Struthers Rotary. The club pays members of Boy Scout Troop 101 at Struthers Presbyterian Church to help place and remove the flags.

Residents pay $25 a year to have a 3-foot-by-5-foot flag placed in their yard in a permanent receptacle flush with the ground for Memorial Day, Flag Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Sept. 11 and Veterans Day. The flags are left in place from Labor Day until after Sept. 11.

There will be an extra flag-replacement cost to the Rotary because of the wear and tear on the flags during the additional time they are exposed to the weather.