Wednesday, April 23, 2003

Hospital, find room in your budget for flying U.S. flag

I almost never write to the editor but [Fayette Community Hospital spokesperson] Ryan Duffy really pushed my button on this one.

To say that you support the troops, no matter what your opinion on the war, and then to say that you won't fly Old Glory because you need a few wheel chairs, or you have to train a person "to pull on a rope and learn how to raise a flag up a pole" is beyond reason. Really, just how low down on the food chain do you think we are?

I'm sorry if this seems somewhat harsh but I am sure that the administration of the Fayette Hospital really has not thought this through. I realize that this is a private institution that we are talking about and they are not required to respond to state rules in this matter. But I also know that they have a "moral" obligation to support the community and the country in any way that they can in matters such as this.

I'm sure that if funds are so pressing that they have to choose between hospital equipment and a flag pole then they should be able to go to the Veterans of Foreign Wars and I am sure that some way or other would be found to allow them to buy the wheel chair and at the same time do the right thing and fly Old Glory as it should be shown from every structure that is in existence in our land.

Ms. Duffy, look in your accounting book again and come up with the right answers this time, please!

Chuck Leonard

Fayetteville

[Editor's note: In the week since the story appeared in The Citizen, the hospital has erected a flag pole and has begun flying the U.S. flag. A photo is in this issue.]