On 21 Feb 2012 18:05:39 -0000, "Joe" wrote:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/n...na-nn-whitney-
houston-flag-protest-20120220,0,2349928.story

As singer Whitney Houston was laid to rest last weekend,
municipalities across New Jersey lowered their flags to half-
staff, a salute to a native daughter who, as Gov. Chris Christie
put it, made significant cultural contributions to her home
state.

“For those people who say, 'I don't think she deserves it,' I
say to them, ‘I understand that you don't think that. I do, and
it's my executive order,’” Christie, a Republican, said last
week.

At least one town, however, ignored the governor’s executive
order. (A man in Michigan burned the New Jersey state flag to
express his displeasure, but more on that in a bit.)

Wayne Township, population 54,000, did not lower its flags -- at
the request of Mayor Christopher P. Vergano.

“As of today I have received 13 emails in favor of not lowering
the flags and one opposed to my decision,” Vergano wrote Monday
in an email to the Los Angeles Times. “The emails came from as
far as Florida, Texas and Virginia. My personal feeling is that
the flag should only be lowered as an honor for military
personal and fallen police officers. Most of the people that
contacted me were in the military service and thanked me for my
decision.”

Houston died Feb. 11 at age 48. Her body was found in the
bathtub of her guest room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly
Hills. Authorities have not yet announced a cause of death.

Among those in the township objecting to lowering the flag in
Houston’s honor was the Wayne Township Policemen’s Benevolent
Assn., Local 136. In a letter posted on the group’s Facebook
page, association President Scott Rappaport wrote to Vergano on
Feb. 16:

“Every death is a tragedy and we mean not to take that away from
Ms. Houston’s family, friends and fans. However, we disagree
that her death is somehow more significant or more important
than the thousands of military personnel and civilians that die
serving our country.”

What the association did not know was that Vergano had already
made up his mind to keep the flags flying as usual.

Christie’s decision to lower the flag prompted comments, both
pro and con, across the country. Also Saturday, the day funeral
services were held in Newark for Houston, a man in the city of
Wyoming, Mich., burned the New Jersey state flag on an outdoor
grill in response to Christie’s order.

“It was a slap in the face. It cheapens the meaning of lowering
that flag,” John Burri, 60, told the Detroit News. “They're
watering down the meaning of a hero.”

Burri’s son, Army Spc. Eric T. Burri, was killed by an
improvised explosive device while he was on patrol in Iraq in
2005. He was 21.

John Burri told the Detroit News: “I didn't do this to offend
the people of New Jersey. If I did and you're offended, I'm
sorry. But I did this because it was wrong and it was to show
the governor [of New Jersey] how wrong this was.”

That's OK. We're having a Chevy roast next week, and we're thinking of
sacrificing a case each of Vernor's and Frankenmuth on the pyre. g

Wayne Township, by the way, is the town that floods out every spring,
and that we taxpayers keep rebuilding. Maybe the fates will favor us
and it will drown beyond repair next time.

--
Ed Huntress