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The emotional reunions are almost over, with all but a few hundred of Fort Campbell's 20,000 troops now home from Iraq. Yellow ribbons are slowly coming down from trees and telephone poles around the Kentucky post at the Tennessee border, and around the surrounding communities. Many military families have left town while units enjoy block leave. Those who have stayed pack local restaurants at night, celebrating their newfound togetherness. It's what Marianne Erdman, a Family Advocate Program specialist at Fort Campbell, calls the "honeymoon period" that typically follows long military deployments. But Erdman said honeymoon periods don't last forever. In...

Students Rally to Show Support for U.S. Troops Home and Abroad A group of about 30 UC Berkeley students donning yellow ribbons and waving U.S. flags took time from their lunch breaks to rally for U.S. troops at home and abroad yesterday on Sproul Plaza. The noon rally was put on by the California Patriot, a conservative campus publication, in an effort to show continuous support for U.S. troops, according to Andrea Irvin, publisher of the magazine and president of the Berkeley College Republicans. Students signed a poster with words of encouragement for soldiers, writing, “Thank you for upholding...

Soldier Returns To Cut Yellow Ribbon Fri, Feb 20, 2004 Hooper Was Pen Pal To Third-Grade Class By Denise Malan The Morning News/NWAonline.net • dmalan@nwaonline.net SPRINGDALE -- A third-grade class at Lee Elementary School cheered Thursday as Pfc. Lance Hooper cut a giant yellow ribbon -- tied around a tree in hopes of his return -- and gave it to his mother. The children in Teresa Powers' class became Hooper's pen pals while he was stationed in Iraq. Hooper, 22, a 2000 Siloam Springs High School graduate, visited the class in November while he was on a two-week leave. Now...

B O O N E, Iowa, Jan. 17 — While much of the nation focuses on Monday's Iowa Democratic caucuses, people in one Iowa town are thinking of a battle much farther away. When the ABCNEWS campaign bus rolled into Boone, Iowa, last week, people were less focused on politics than on all the familiar faces absent from the church pews. Nearly 400 members of the local National Guard are overseas, most in Iraq. From a town of 12,000, it is a substantial subtraction noticed everywhere, including a busy beauty salon. "As far as in the community, I mean, it...

ON THE HOME FRONTYellow ribbonsnow under fire Reminders of troops in Iraqcausing massive rift in town Posted: November 11, 20035:28 p.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com Yellow ribbons symbolizing troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan have divided a Maine town holding a Veterans Day parade for the first time in 60 years. Local veterans in South Portland want the ribbons – which are attached to utility poles along the parade route – to stay long after the event is over. Opponents, however, contend they are a political symbol of support for President Bush, not just American troops, the Portland, Maine, Press Herald reported....

SOUTH PORTLAND — The buzz surrounding this city's first Veterans Day parade in nearly 60 years isn't about color guards or marching bands. It's about the yellow ribbons attached to utility poles that line the parade's route down Broadway. Representatives of local veterans organizations want the ribbons to stay up long after the parade ends - to acknowledge troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. But what seems like a simple decision for local veterans has become an increasingly complex and contentious issue during the past four months. It has put elected officials between a mother whose son is fighting in...

Yellow ribbons cause flap in South Portland Thursday,September18,2003,6:38 AM SOUTH PORTLAND (AP) -- A debate is brewing in another Maine community over those fading yellow ribbons that were put on public structures during the Iraq war. The ribbons represent support for U.S. troops in Iraq. In South Portland, a councilor has suggested the ribbons might inappropriately represent a city-sponsored political statement. Officials have rescinded permission they gave to a resident to hang the ribbons from city buildings and telephone poles.

The legacy of 9/11 is anger; American anger with the world In the country where I have spent the past nine months trying to blend in, today is Patriot Day. By federal mandate there will be flag-waving and pride, commemoration and sorrow, in every city across the United States. Sounds a bit Soviet, doesn’t it? Not over there, in the country where it happened. Not for most people. For tens of millions of Americans 9/11 remains raw in ways we can only imagine, and Patriot Day sounds just about right. Two years after the throat-slitters’ apocalypse the rest of the...

Correctional officers at state correctional institutions, including the two located in Luzerne County, have been ordered to remove American flag and yellow ribbon pins from their uniforms. The order from Secretary of Corrections Jeffrey A. Beard on Sept. 2 has upset many correctional officers who wore the stars and stripes and yellow pins to show support for military personnel fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom. "No one wants to get fired, but it's a matter of principle," said Jim Chernavage, business agent for the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association. Beard said in his order that the responsibility of the department of...

  Glenn Hatzenbuhler holds a box of supplies he wants to donate to U.S. troops in Iraq. With him are his wife, Erica, and sons Tyler (l) and Garrett. (Photo by Edward Carreon) NATIONAL SECURITYIn a Time of Rising Support for the Troops, Finding Ways to Show It Is ToughBY DAVID WOOD Newhouse News Service   [Los Angeles] -- Glenn Hatzenbuhler wanted to do something for American soldiers serving in Iraq. His wife and young sons also were excited about the idea. They filled a box with goodies -- then realized they had no idea where to send it....

Yellow ribbons hang outside almost every house in Hinesville, the military town next to the 3rd Infantry Division's base of Fort Stewart in Georgia. They were nailed up in January, an expression of the desire for the swift return of husbands and sons sent to war in Iraq. Seven months later, and 100 days after Baghdad fell to US forces, most are now faded almost to white. The soldiers they remember remain on active duty in the Middle East and their families still wait to hear when their supposed six-month tour of duty will finally be over. For the army...

In your April 27 editorial you say "wearing a yellow ribbon is not a political statement in support of warfare" but rather "a reminder that we may know someone in the service who is sacrificing his or her life for our freedom" - a major contradiction! If you favor "supporting the troops" when they are engaged in warfare, you support warfare. It's that simple. Those poor souls who die in combat are sacrificing their lives because they bought the story that killing the "enemy" (whomever the "leader" chooses to call "enemy") keeps you free. What is "freedom"? If freedom implies...

It is with astonishment that I write about a situation that is so narcissistically absurd that one would think it could only happen in California under the watchful eye of the liberal-left. Yet, amazingly, it is happening right here in the Midwest, in Riverside, Illinois and could be happening wherever apathy condones political correctness. It would seem that there are some, I like to call them the vocal minority, who find the harmless yellow ribbons that are affixed to the trees of the neighborhoods in this established American community visually obnoxious. The ribbons “are unsightly and not in keeping with...

Rejection of yellow ribbons brings jabs, show of support Friday, April 25, 2003By Matt VandebunteThe Grand Rapids Press CEDAR SPRINGS -- The decision of city officials to prevent a community service group from hanging yellow ribbons on downtown lampposts in honor of U.S. troops in Iraq drew a light-hearted ribbing from the president of the Cedar Springs school board on Thursday. Michael Metzger thanked the city for stealing the headlines at the annual dinner shared by the school board and City Council. Mayor James Charon responded by drawing attention to the yellow tie he was wearing, then stated that his...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 24, 2003 CONTACT Chad Morgan, Chairman 714-658-2190, cmorgan@calyaf.com Brad White, Project Coordinator 714-454-1150, bradwhite@calyaf.com Video of Huntington Beach City Council Member's Anti-American Comments Posted on Internet Cook Was Sole Vote Against Support the Troops Resolution Huntington Beach, CA - This past Monday night, the Huntington Beach City Council voted 6-1 on a support the troops resolution that would allow for yellow ribbons to be placed on the antennas of police and other city vehicles. The ribbons will be in place as long as American Troops are in harm's way during Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring...

N.J. Town Opts to Allow Yellow Ribbons .c The Associated Press FIELDSBORO, N.J. (AP) - A town that attracted nationwide attention by banning yellow ribbons on municipal property decided to allow the bows, with some limitations. The borough council unanimously agreed Monday night to place two yellow ribbons on each of its three welcome signs. But the council will not allow more than two, and ribbons put up earlier in defiance of the ban most likely will be removed. The sign where the dispute began three weeks ago now is plastered with ribbons, flags and signs supporting U.S. troops. ``We're...

News Release: Immediate Release April 3, 2003 OPERATION: 12,000 FLAGS 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...

Join our Yellow Ribbon Rally in Petaluma. It starts at 9am at Walnut Park on Saturday April 12. http://www.petalumapatriots.org

Ribbons back up after slasher strikes Carpinterians replace bows snipped by skater with scissors 4/9/03 By ANNA DAVISON NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER An in-line skating, scissor-wielding antiwar protester got snippy with some Carpinterians on Monday as they tied yellow bows around city trees as a gesture of support for U.S. troops. As the ribbon squad proceeded down Linden Avenue, trimming the trees with bows, the mystery woman glided behind, trimming them off. "Absolutely nuts," declared Karla Armendariz, who helped organize the tree-decorating effort. "It was just crazy." Lisa Munoz was busy wrapping a tree on Linden Avenue when the wound-up woman...

U.S. town champions yellow ribbons in face of ban SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Pondering the fate of yellow ribbons put up illegally on town lamp posts, a San Francisco suburb has decided to tie its own ribbons to remember U.S. soldiers in Iraq, officials said on Tuesday. Burlingame, a town of 28,000 which bars private signs of any kinds on lamp posts, sparked a controversy after allowing a mother whose son is fighting in Iraq to put up yellow ribbons. One man opposed to the war complained, pointing out that a city ordinance did not allow such postings. "The city...