Posted on 04/05/2003 10:46:18 AM PST by UB355
When Hartford Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Doreen Weibel wanted to tie yellow ribbons to trees on city property as a patriotic gesture toward U.S. troops in Iraq, getting permission was a phone call away.
"I called up the mayor and he said, 'Go right ahead,' " Weibel said Friday.
In Muskego, the city itself hung yellow ribbons - donated by a local florist - under the American flags displayed on its main street.
And in Whitefish Bay, Police Chief Gary Mikulec has seen a number of yellow ribbons tied around trees in public parkways - and looked the other way.
"We understand the emotions tied to this conflict," Mikulec said. "We have no difficulty with the ribbons at present."
But the issue is more complicated in Cedarburg, where City Administrator Clint Gridley has banned ribbons - which were popularized two decades ago during the Iran hostage crisis and took hold during the Persian Gulf War - from city property.
If he were to allow the display, Gridley said Friday, what's to stop an anti-war group from hanging black ribbons on city trees or other public property?
"It's a question of equity," he said. "Would we give other groups who say they are just as deserving the ability to display their symbols on public property?
"So we have to separate how we feel about the troops and the war from the ribbon request," he said, adding that it's a tough decision for him "because I personally support the yellow ribbon campaign."
Gridley's decision didn't sit well with Noel Jepson of Cedarburg, who showed up at a Common Council meeting this week to urge aldermen to allow yellow ribbons to be displayed on street lamps in the downtown area and to be wrapped around trees in a city park.
"Who supports our troops?" Jepson asked an audience of about 30 people. "Stand up if you support our troops."
Nearly everyone did.
Jepson also invited aldermen to do the same, and all of them stood as well.
Aldermen took no action to overrule Gridley, but will apparently get another chance. When reporters started asking about the issue on Friday, Ald. Robert Loomis asked that the matter be placed on the agenda at the council's next meeting - on April 14.
It's an issue local officials are confronting nationwide.
Earlier this week, yellow ribbons were banned from public property in Fieldsboro, N.J., a decision that drew criticism nationwide when it was reported by news services and on network television.
A protest was scheduled for today against the policy. The town's sole police officer has called state police for help policing the expected crowds.
Fieldsboro Mayor Edward "Buddy" Tyler said the ban helps ensure that controversial symbols, such as Confederate or Nazi flags, didn't appear on public property in the town of 522 residents.
Thousand Oaks, Calif., resident Brenda Freeman last week tied yellow ribbons around a few hundred trees as a tribute to U.S. troops in Iraq.
In return, she got a few hundred feet of cut-up ribbon returned to her by the city's Public Works Department because she ran afoul of rules forbidding garage sale signs and advertisements on trees in the public right of way.
After angry residents jammed city hall phone lines and harangued their council members, Freeman received an apology from Mayor Andy Fox, who blamed the deribboning on bad judgment by an overzealous city employee.
Jan Effinger, a Mequon resident who sells real estate in Cedarburg, asked City Administrator Gridley about two weeks ago for permission to hang yellow ribbons on all trees along Washington St., the main street running through downtown Cedarburg.
Gridley said no, encouraging her to tell citizens through the news media to tie the ribbons on trees on private property.
"There are many more and visible trees on private property," he said. "They can do with their property as they choose."
Gridley said that when the war started, Cedarburg was one of the first communities in the area to put up American flags on Washington St.
The American flag "is a national symbol, and it has complete relevance and appropriateness," Gridley said. "The yellow ribbon is not a national symbol. But over the years, it has developed a sentimental meaning."
That sentiment may have other problems down the line.
Mikulec, the Whitefish Bay police chief, didn't rule out a change in his perception of the issue.
"Our problem may be later on when people take other positions on other topics and decide that they want to use the same tree for their message."
If this becomes a pronounced problem, he said, "we will look to the Village Board for some direction on this."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Do you think there were "Clint Gridley for City Administrator" signs on public land during this turd's election campaign?
C_E
Is it an American flag? I'm trying to get throught the smoke screen to your meaning. Please respond. Do you have the Star Spangled Banner yet waving or not? Please answer the question, as in "Yes" or "No".
It's a very fine line, but the Lord says that if you forget him, he will give you up to reprobate mind. I can see that happening with my contemporaries who lack the ability to be honest with themselves. What do you see, my friend?
Freegards. Love, Dec31.
The practice of tying yellow ribbons when we're waiting for loved ones, servicemen to return from battle, or some other tenuous situation, sprung up shortly after that song...I believe during the Iran hostage crisis.
I won't bore you with the lyrics, but the gist of the story was a young man hadn't seen his love in 3 years because of an argument and implored her to tie a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of her residence. If he saw the yellow ribbon he knew all would be forgiven and she still loved him. If there was no ribbon, he would put her behind and move on with his life. Sums it up pretty well.
In today's context it has become a symbol of longing for a loved ones return, a symbol of hope that the loved one will return unharmed, and most importantly a symbol of promise that we'll be here anxiously awaiting their return no matter how long it takes.
So am I and I remember it well. One billion times on the radio back then and it's still being played. But I discovered later that Orlando's version was a revival -- the song actually appeared in the 1920s, but with an Elm tree instead of an Oak. Of course we'd lost most of our beautiful elms by Orlando's time, so he changed the title.
Whatever historical meaning yellow ribbons had, the symbol has been redefined by popular usage since Gulf War I. Now it's mainly to show support for the armed forces. I don't see anything mournful about it, do you? Black is the color of mourning.
The yellow ribbon may well not be something Patton, given a more strategic and analytical mind, would have understood. But it certainly is something his mother would have! You're totally missing the point.
Resolve and patriotism are the order of the day, which is exactly why the yellow ribbons are totally appropriate in conjunction with the flag! They tell our troops we're here for them and always will be.
Why such hostility for something that in some small fashion eases the minds of many waiting wives and mothers? And having had a friend that came home to a yellow ribbon around the tree in front of his house after the gulf war, also provides a welcome for returning soldiers.
I agree with T'wit - don't see a negative conotation whatsoever to the yellow ribbons.
To ease your mind, we are flying the flag on our home, no yellow ribbons, but I still appreciate others flying the yellow as well.
On another matter, 2 elderly ladies were struck and killed by an errent driver as they departed from early morning week day Mass in Cedarburg (just down the street from Mr. Jepson). There were no complaints when an impromptu display of memorial flowers was placed in the parking strip near the spot where they died. This memorial was maintained and changed seasonally for more than a year until a stone marker was created and placed in the front garden of the church.
Clint Gridley should crawl back under his rock at City Hall.
He wasn't elected. He was appointed and he serves at the pleasure of the Aldermanic Council.
BTW, Mr. Jepson has "Support the Troops" signs on his prominent corner, as well as the yellow ribbons.
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