FreeMasons give out 12,000 American Flags and over 1 mile of yellow ribbon

Saturday April 12, 2003, will be celebrated as an early flag day by citizens of the Roanoke Valley. This event will be celebrated by distribution of American Flags and Yellow Ribbon at Tanglewood Mall.

This event sponsored by Lakeland Masonic Lodge # 190 and is organized in support of our American Fighting Men and Women now in the Iraqi conflict.

In support of this effort, the Freemasons of the Roanoke Valley will give away 12,000 American Flags and a mile of yellow ribbon at Tanglewood Mall beginning at 9:00 AM on Saturday April 12, 2003.

Apr 10, 2003

Town opens heart to forces

No war protests in Gate City
BY MARSHA MERCER
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE

GATE CITY, Va. - In town hall, the small TV on the counter plays only Fox News because of its upbeat coverage. Yellow ribbons flutter from most lampposts, and signs ask for prayers for "our troops.''

Iraq may be a world away, but war has captured the heart of Gate City, a town of 2,200 in far Southwest Virginia near the Tennessee line.

All four local Army National Guard units have been activated. The first, with about 150 soldiers - green recruits to Vietnam vets - left Monday for Kuwait. Altogether, some 400 troops from the Gate City armory have gone on active duty since January.

"You can't walk down the street without running into somebody whose father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, cousin or classmate has gone - or who knows somebody who has,'' said Staff Sgt. John McArthur, who's in charge of family and dependent support for the absent 1030th Engineering Battalion.

The town has knitted its support like a warm sweater. The town said Godspeed to the soldiers with breakfasts and parades. They send care packages from churches.

And now, even though the TV brings hopeful images from Baghdad, anxiety tempers hope on the home front.

"It would be one thing if they definitely say Saddam is dead,'' Town Manager Matt Horton said yesterday. He and Mayor Charlie Dougherty are planning a townwide yard sale to buy long-distance phone cards for local soldiers.

"Once they take the whole country, they've still got to occupy it for a long time,'' Horton said.

The town collected $2,000 in donations practically overnight last month to buy phone cards for departing troops. Churches and schools are collecting personal supplies and gum and candy for care packages.

"Everybody wants to do something,'' Dougherty said.

And yet, the ordinary patterns of life are disrupted. Familiar faces are missed on the street, and some merchants report that business has slowed.

At Chris', a store that sells everything from quilting supplies to cowboy boots, Camellia Carrico says people aren't buying the way they used to. Her father started the store in 1952, and Carrico and her mother run the shop.

Carrico's husband, Ray, 48, deployed with a transportation unit. Her nephew is also in the military. Ray Carrico served in Desert Storm, as did a dozen or so fellow members of his unit.

"I was pregnant when he was gone before, and my son Zach was born with six different heart defects that required surgery. If we can get through that, we can get through this,'' Camellia Carrico said. But, she said, it is hard on a 12-year-old boy who misses his dad.

Mark "Bo'' Taylor has four cousins who've gone to the war, including one who's also the pastor of his church.

Taylor's computer screensaver in his office in the Scott County Courthouse shows war jets and other military aircraft. While not a veteran himself, Taylor comes from a military background. His "grandfather's grandfather'' was in the Confederate Army.

As the circuit court clerk, Taylor performs civil marriages. He has lost track of how many times he tied the knot during the National Guard call-ups.

Ministers typically require the couple to participate in premarital counseling, as does the state of Tennessee, he explained. Plus, a marriage license in Virginia costs only $30, compared with about $100 across the state line.

"These people didn't want to wait,'' Taylor said.

At his church, where the pastor has been deployed, people help out with babysitting, lawn-mowing, and shopping, Taylor said.

"You won't find any anti-war protests here,'' he said.

RTD

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