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Pennsylvania Firefighter Suspended for U.S. Flag on Locker
FOXNEWS ^ | 10/17/09 | FOX

Posted on 10/17/2009 6:06:19 PM PDT by Doogle

A Pennslyvania firefighter was suspended without pay for refusing to remove an American flag sticker from his locker, Myfoxphilly.com reported.

James Krapf of Chester, Pa., violated a department policy that states personal items can only be posted inside employee lockers when he stuck the flag on the outside. According to Myfoxphilly.com, the firefighters' union warned 11 others to remove personal items or face similar suspensions, all without pay.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: firefighters; oldglory; pc; workplace
I'm starting to get personally "OFFENDED" by this silliness that is going on. Why is it that these AMERICANS have to be defended week in and week out by other Americans? Think back to before 9/11....was there ever a question as to why you had an AMERICAN FLAG on your locker?
1 posted on 10/17/2009 6:06:19 PM PDT by Doogle
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To: Doogle

Who the F do they think pays their salaries?


2 posted on 10/17/2009 6:09:05 PM PDT by mowowie
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To: Doogle

Some liberal obviously complained about it.


3 posted on 10/17/2009 6:10:16 PM PDT by whatisthetruth
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To: Doogle

Sorry, but the policy in this case seems fair. None of the firefighters were allowed to put anything on the outside of their lockers.

Organizations have to have rules. This isn’t about anti-Americanism or a vendetta against the flag. It’s about reasonable restrictions on what employees can do in the workplace.

So long as the rule applies to all of the employees who use lockers, what’s the beef?


4 posted on 10/17/2009 6:10:40 PM PDT by CitizenUSA
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To: mowowie
..it's time we took a page out of ACORN’s book and start to show up in numbers and let our “views” be known.
5 posted on 10/17/2009 6:11:50 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: Doogle

The Firefighter Union here on Rt. 50 Fairfax, VA always supports the DEMS in election. If there is any out there screw you all.


6 posted on 10/17/2009 6:13:44 PM PDT by bmwcyle (We need more Joe Wilson's. OBAMA is ACORN ACORN is OBAMA)
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To: Doogle

Muzzies again?

This dhimmi stuff is going to kill the country


7 posted on 10/17/2009 6:14:22 PM PDT by GeronL (They Made It Happen On Purpose Economically. MIHOPE)
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To: CitizenUSA

I agree with you. For what it’s worth. ;-)


8 posted on 10/17/2009 6:16:04 PM PDT by FoxInSocks (B. Hussein Obama: Central Planning Czar)
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To: CitizenUSA
Why was he singled out and the others only "warned" and told to take their displays down. Also, why the hell can't they have displays on the outside of their lockers. After all, they're in service, not in prison. Something is seriously wrong here.

Lamh Foistenach Abu!
9 posted on 10/17/2009 6:16:54 PM PDT by ConorMacNessa (HM/2 USN, 3/5 Marines, RVN 1969. St. Michael the Archangel defend us in battle!)
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To: Doogle
Free Republic

Learn the rules and play the game. Sounds like the fireman doesn't want to play by the rules. I wonder if his flag looks like mine?

10 posted on 10/17/2009 6:18:23 PM PDT by missnry (The truth will set you free ... and drive liberals Crazy!)
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To: missnry

Really nice image, missnry. I don’t think I’ve seen it before.


11 posted on 10/17/2009 6:20:48 PM PDT by radiohead (Buy ammo, get your kids out of government schools, pray for the Republic.)
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To: CitizenUSA
complained about a cartoon posted in the firehouse that they found racially offensive.

...a cartoon, someone found offensive...so the "officials" deemed it EASIER to ban all.....don't deal with the people....take the freakin EASY way out...remove the flag....freakin OFFICIALS can't deal with decisions they SHOULD DEAL WITH...take the easy way out

12 posted on 10/17/2009 6:21:43 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: Doogle
...don't deal with WHO THE **** posted the cartoon....make everyone resentful
13 posted on 10/17/2009 6:25:16 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: All

This is so simple to solve. If ALL the guys put US flag stickers on the outside of the lockers in solidarity they could hardly susupend them all because there would be no one to fight fires.

These officious jacka**es need to take their heads out of their backsides.


14 posted on 10/17/2009 6:25:36 PM PDT by gemoftheocean (...geez, this all seems so straight forward and logical to me...)
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To: Doogle

I am so sick of this crap...........someone should make a stencil and Paint the Flag on every locker in the building.


15 posted on 10/17/2009 6:27:46 PM PDT by Kakaze (Exterminate Islamofacism and apologize for nothing.....except not doing it sooner!)
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To: Doogle

In my town, our fire engines have flags on them...American flags, no less. With Sotomayer on the SCOTUS, how long before they declare mandatory separation of patriotism and state?


16 posted on 10/17/2009 6:28:30 PM PDT by Spok
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To: Doogle
...a cartoon, someone found offensive...so the "officials" deemed it EASIER to ban all.....don't deal with the people....

I'm disgusted by the officials' action but I know enough about First Amendment in the workplace cases that they really had no other choice except an across-the-board, "content-neutral" ban.

17 posted on 10/17/2009 6:29:08 PM PDT by lightman (Adjutorium nostrum (+) in nomine Domini)
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To: mowowie

Seems their leadership wants to join Al Kaka, Talibrats or in-kind freak show so they can be aaccceeeppted; maybe when their house is on fire from a criminal or terrorist attack they can call 999 for Jesse, Al, Louis or Hamas. So let’s see, it’s an offense to depict a sneak, cheat and lair as a Voodoo Clown, racist to speak against being un-American and a transgression to support the people that pay your salaries…makes you wonder who really complained? Then on the other hand maybe one of the “identity politics” types called Pennsylvania Avenue to complain about proactive Americanism in public; can’t have that it’s racist.


18 posted on 10/17/2009 6:30:18 PM PDT by ntmxx (I am not so sure about this misdirection!)
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To: CitizenUSA

I want to agree with you because rules be rules, but why didn’t the union simply deal wth the “offensive’ cartoon putter-upper and call it a day? Why did they choose to mess with everyone? It’s our flag... it’s our country... damn the folks who get offened by OUR flag!


19 posted on 10/17/2009 6:31:46 PM PDT by Mathews (Ambition, absent a moral compass, is naked destruction.)
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To: CitizenUSA

Ditto.


20 posted on 10/17/2009 6:34:30 PM PDT by RobRoy (The US today: Revelation 18:4)
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To: CitizenUSA

“It’s about reasonable restrictions”

1. Reasonable restriction? What is unreasonable about
a fireman displaying an American Flag?

2. What the Hell’s business is it of some leftist union?
I would think the government that runs the fire department would be the one to make such rules.

Sorry, you are out in lefty field.


21 posted on 10/17/2009 6:34:33 PM PDT by AlexW (Now in the Philippines . Happy not to be back in the USA for now.)
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To: Spok

Here too! Wonder when Chester, Pa. receded from the Union?


22 posted on 10/17/2009 6:34:41 PM PDT by classified
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To: Doogle
Photobucket
23 posted on 10/17/2009 6:36:29 PM PDT by GloriaJane (http://www.last.fm/user/GloriaJane)
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To: Doogle

The clash over the flag started as an attempt to quash arguments in the firehouse. Johnson directed all 61 firefighters over the summer to clear the outside of their lockers after a black firefighter posted a cartoon that some found offensive.

The firefighter, Robert Butler, 48, said yesterday he posted the cartoon, which showed two black men and included what could be considered racial slurs, as a protest.

Johnson, who also is black, removed the cartoon after another firefighter complained. Butler then posted a sign that read, “Black man has no free speech.” Butler was suspended for a day when he refused to remove the sign. He took it down the next day.

The directive, which ordered firefighters to keep the outside of lockers “free of alteration,” went into effect Aug. 29. Firefighters can keep family photos and other items inside their lockers.

Johnson, who refused to answer questions yesterday, said Thursday that firefighters had two months to talk to him about the directive before he began enforcing it this week. He said that the issue was a “molehill that’s been turned into a mountain,” and that he would not comment further until all “internal procedures are exhausted.”


24 posted on 10/17/2009 6:36:48 PM PDT by smokingfrog (No man's life, liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session. I AM JIM THOMPSON)
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To: ConorMacNessa

He wasn’t singled out. They were all told to take personal items off their lockers. Apparently he refused, while the others complied.

As for why they can’t have displays on the outside of their lockers, it’s called setting workplace standards. They are free to put whatever they want on the inside of the lockers, but the place will look organized and clean (professional) when the lockers are closed. Seems reasonable to me.


25 posted on 10/17/2009 6:36:50 PM PDT by CitizenUSA
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To: Doogle

If the rules prohibit posting anything on your (actually the public taxpery’s property) locker, then DON’T.

Patriotism is wonderful, but you can still follow the flippin’ rules!


26 posted on 10/17/2009 6:39:34 PM PDT by Beelzebubba (Why not "interpret" your tax returns like the Supreme Court "interprets" the Constitution?)
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To: Doogle

Have you ever been in charge of a large organization? What would you rather managers do, constantly monitor and resolve disagreements between personnel over stickers or set a reasonable and fair policy that maintains an orderly work area for all? The correct answer, btw, is the latter one.


27 posted on 10/17/2009 6:40:17 PM PDT by CitizenUSA
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To: Mathews

why didn’t the union simply deal wth the “offensive’ cartoon putter-upper and call it a day?


Because anti-taxpayer government employee unions are a cancer on our society.


28 posted on 10/17/2009 6:41:07 PM PDT by Beelzebubba (Why not "interpret" your tax returns like the Supreme Court "interprets" the Constitution?)
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To: lightman

...they had a real simple choice. The “official: whether an officer in the fire house....or a town official....simply take the “cartoon” down and remind ALL in the station, whoever was responsible for the cartoon being displayed...THAT PERSON WILL FACE SUSPENSION...if it’s done again....you suspend them,you don’t take the EASY WAY OUT.
The captain or chief would then be reminded what his duties are in order to keep the peace
You just don’t remove the AMERICAN FLAG....I’m tired of this S8IT!. It’s real simple to resolve, they want to shun their responsibilities...the easy way


29 posted on 10/17/2009 6:46:36 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: CitizenUSA; Doogle; All
There is a pretty easy fix for this.

"THE ONLY ITEM YOU MAY DISPLAY ON THE OUTSIDE OF YOUR LOCKER IS THE AMERICAN FLAG!!!"


30 posted on 10/17/2009 6:54:49 PM PDT by bigheadfred (NEGROMANCER!!! Run For Your LIVES!!!!)
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To: bmwcyle

Unions are unions no matter WHO they represent.


31 posted on 10/17/2009 6:55:18 PM PDT by EDINVA (Obama CAN'T see the Olympics from his back porch !)
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To: Doogle
The clash over the flag started AS AN ATTEMPT to quash arguments in the firehouse

...the easy way out "attempt" failed...it didn't resolve s*** ..instead of dealing with the people. I got a feeling the cartoon issue is just the latest this department has failed to address....that happens when ya take the easy way

Good night all,I gotta catch the rest of the game...*smiles*...enjoy

32 posted on 10/17/2009 6:59:26 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: bigheadfred

bingo


33 posted on 10/17/2009 7:00:10 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: ConorMacNessa

I believe many prison cells have a defined area of wall space where personal items may be displayed.


34 posted on 10/17/2009 7:05:05 PM PDT by bigheadfred (NEGROMANCER!!! Run For Your LIVES!!!!)
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To: Doogle

If the guy has a family to support and can’t just walk off to some other job, I would tell him, with a heavy heart, “Don’t martyr yourself, but move the sticker to some other place where current policy says it’s OK. Then work on trying to get the policy changed.”

There might be reasonable reasons for this, such as being able to repaint all locker doors after they collectively have incurred scratching and marring enough to be unsightly. Also management wouldn’t want things to fall off, creating litter in the room or difficulty in operating locker doors.


35 posted on 10/17/2009 7:07:25 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (ACORN: Absolute Criminal Organization of Reprobate Nuisances)
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To: Doogle
Do I still live in America? Just another reason to hate unions.
36 posted on 10/17/2009 7:18:05 PM PDT by Major Matt Mason (The DemocRat Party is no longer an American political party.)
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To: Doogle

I have a picture of me and my crew holding our flag in front of a Blackhawh helicopter in the desert south Baghdad but don’t know how to attach it. As far as I know not even Saddam Hussein objected but of course there were no democrats around.


37 posted on 10/17/2009 7:26:58 PM PDT by jesseam (Been there, done that)
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To: Doogle
Call me crazy, but to me, wherever the Flag is displayed, it BELONGS there.


38 posted on 10/17/2009 7:27:24 PM PDT by bigheadfred (NEGROMANCER!!! Run For Your LIVES!!!!)
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To: bigheadfred

Well I might not want to put it on my toilet....


39 posted on 10/17/2009 7:57:13 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (ACORN: Absolute Criminal Organization of Reprobate Nuisances)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

40 posted on 10/17/2009 8:20:59 PM PDT by bigheadfred (NEGROMANCER!!! Run For Your LIVES!!!!)
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To: Doogle
This is possibly the same issue as home owners associations forbidding homes from flying the American flag. If that is the sole issue, it will lose because there is already a court order prohibiting that kind of ban.

On the other hand, if these foot lockers are owned by the fire department, then the users have no right to put anything on them without the rightful owners permission.

One may argue that the fire department has already given their permission for the users to put whatever they want on the footlockers, but that permission was for the inside only.

There may be another issue in that if there was at one time an allowance for things on the outside and the rules were changed, then whatever was existent before the rules change should be still allowed (grandfathered in). However, this will have to be weighted against the lawful owners rights to say what their property can be used for.

41 posted on 10/17/2009 9:07:56 PM PDT by dglang
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To: Doogle
...personal items can only be posted inside employee lockers...it's the American flag - I thought it belonged to everyone who lives in this country.....
42 posted on 10/17/2009 9:14:39 PM PDT by Intolerant in NJ
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To: Owl_Eagle; brityank; Physicist; WhyisaTexasgirlinPA; GOPJ; abner; baseballmom; Mo1; Ciexyz; ...

ping


43 posted on 10/17/2009 9:20:32 PM PDT by Tribune7 (I am Joe Wilson!)
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To: CitizenUSA

NOWHERE in this country should an american flag be banned. That’s part of the problem right now.


44 posted on 10/17/2009 9:24:03 PM PDT by Post5203 (The ONLY WAY out of this mess is to enact term limits on congress)
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To: Post5203
I wanna see anyone put an American flag sticker on a foot locker in basic. They would fry you.

This is no big deal.

Rules are rules. The goobers would be putting Obama face stickers on everything if there were no rules.

45 posted on 10/17/2009 9:39:38 PM PDT by AGreatPer (Impeach Obama)
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To: Post5203
NOWHERE in this country should an american flag be banned. That’s part of the problem right now.

Be careful what you wish for.
Some displays could be considered disrespectful.


46 posted on 10/18/2009 6:07:57 AM PDT by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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