Posted on 07/19/2015 7:39:53 AM PDT by UMCRevMom@aol.com
NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) -
Gov. Bill Haslam has ordered that all of the flags flying over the State Capitol and state office buildings need to be flown at half-staff, effective immediately.
Haslam wrote this is in honor of "those who were lost during the tragic acts of violence in Chattanooga."
Authorities say 24-year-old Muhammed Youseef Abdulazeez killed four people and injured three others at a military facility on Thursday.
All four of the people who were killed were Marines. A police officer was one of the three people who was injured. He was shot in the foot.
Abdulazeez was also killed in the incident. The FBI said they will be conducting an autopsy over the weekend.
Read more: http://www.wsmv.com/story/29572445/gov-orders-for-flags-at-capitol-state-office-buildings-to-be-flown-at-half-staff#ixzz3gLdX9Ln9
July 18, 2015
Sal Panto Jr. says it wasn't an act of defiance.
It was simply the right thing to do, he said.
Panto, Easton's mayor, drove to Centre Square after 1 a.m. Saturday and lowered the American flag to half-staff.
He did so to honor the four Marines killed in a shooting at a military support center in Chatanooga, Tennessee. A fifth victim, a U.S. sailor, later died.
Panto said he was prompted by a Facebook request from city resident Peggy Cochran, whose husband Pete is a city firefighter and who has two sons in the Marine Corps.
He stopped at Centre Square after wrapping up with an event at Riverside Country Club in Forks Township, he said. A police officer helped him.
"It was the right thing to do," Panto said Saturday afternoon. "Sometimes the inappropriate thing is the right thing. I'm sure the president just forgot."
According to flag code, only the president and governor can order flags be flown at half-staff.
Panto freely admitted he overstepped his authority.
"I'm fully aware I don't have the authority to do this but I feel I just had to remind the president," he said. "He just needed a little reminder and I'm happy to do that. There's so many other things going on. I don't think he realized that this was something that he should do."
MORE: Read other stories from Easton here
Panto said he has ordered the lowering of the Easton flag before in honor of prominent city residents. He did that after the death of Easton merchant Robin Porter (2011) and the deaths of former mayors Henry Schultz (2008) and Fred Ashton (2013).
He said he plans to have the American flag raised again Monday or until someone "threatens arrest or fines."
Reaction on social media was strong. Panto's Facebook page was flooded with support.
Not everyone agreed with him, however. Some asked if he would do the same each time a U.S. police officer is killed in the line of duty. One woman said he disrespected all servicemen and women.
"The flag code does not indicate (half-staff) for the death of military personnel. If it did it would be at half mast every day," she said. "...As the daughter of generations of service and wife of a Marine veteran, I'm disgusted."
Panto said the city honors law enforcement officers with a service at the Centre Square police officers' memorial each Peace Officers' Day.
He said he understands why the president and governor are the ones with authority over the flag.
"They're afraid people are going to overuse it," he said. "I know that. I don't think this is an overuse, though.
"These were (five) men in the military on their own base. To me it's an act of terrorism whether someone says so or not."
The flag on my dock is at half-staff because of this event.
Anyone who tries to alter it is in for an unpleasant surprise.
Meh, at O’Bozo’s WH it only goes half staff if it’s “rain bow” and Caitlyn loses an earring.....
Or if Whitney Houston dies....
Obama is on Vacation with the Girls ,he has no time for Flags
Obozo will have no half staff for the Marine Corpse.
They were not at half staff at the AFB as of 1/2 hour ago
Disgusting. They have to take orders from pentagon I wonder if the troops doing reveille this morning were tempted to hoist it upside down. Maybe they were in civilian clothes since chief of staff ordered tgat for recruiters
Obama always has a full-staff for a Marine.
Yup...
Looking at his boondoggle trip to NYC, he did give a half staff salute coming off Marine 1, to those sharp young Marines saluting his sorry axx
The flags in our little town in MA. are flying at half- staff.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/07/gov_charlie_baker_orders_flags_lowered_after_tennessee_shootings
Massachusetts Gov Baker ordered flags lowered to half mast.
Silly! The flag is flown at half mask as a sign of mourning, not celebration!
The flag at the University of Memphis Law School was at half staff Friday. I assume it was for the five who were killed in Chattanooga.
“...Obama is on Vacation with the Girls ,he has no time for Flags...”
Unless it’s about the Confederate Battle Flag.
Or the Rainbow Flag
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