6A — THE OBSERVER
SaTuRday, OcTOBER 3, 2020
STATE/NATION
Salem man seeks to retire city’s obscure, ‘ugly’ flag
Brian McKinley
hopes to upgrade
Salem’s flag, a relic
from the 1970s
By Saphara Harrell
Salem Reporter via AP StoryShare
SALEM — You prob-
ably didn’t know Salem had
a flag. Or that its design is
so bad by certain standards
that someone is hosting a
contest to design a new one.
Brian McKinley is on
a mission to make Salem’s
flag better.
As a member of Salem’s
planning commission, he
started a subcommittee
in January with the intent
to change the flag with its
white star radiating yellow,
blue and green, the word
“Salem” and an outline of
the Oregon Capitol.
The subcommittee’s
efforts were sidelined
because of COVID-19, but
McKinley is forging ahead
with a contest that will run
until July 2021. Flag designs
can be submitted online to
salemflagproject.com.
Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter
Brian McKinley holds up the flag for the city of Salem in city council chambers on Wednes-
day, Sept. 30, 2020. McKinley wants to change flag’s design.
McKinley said the flag
design was created in the
1970s after local banks
held a contest to promote
tourism. Not many people
know of its existence. One
flag is on display in the
council chambers at city
hall.
“It screams 1970s. It says
Salem on it. I think it’s just
a simple design they copied
from the State Capitol. If
you look at the rotunda
inside, you see the star with
five things radiating outside
of it,” McKinley said.
McKinley said students
in the Young Leaders Pro-
gram at Willamette Univer-
sity will judge the entries
and announce finalists
next year. Then he’ll take
the winners to Salem City
Council for a final decision,
but said he’s unsure what
the council’s appetite is for
changing the design.
McKinley has received
seven submissions but
expects there will be hun-
dreds by the time the con-
test ends. He’s posted
about the design con-
test on pages aimed at
flag enthusiasts as well as
on popular online forum
Reddit to spark interest.
Salem’s flag violates
many of the five rules
for “good flag design”
according to the North
American Vexillological
Association, a group of
people passionate about
flags.
The rules include
keeping the design simple
enough to draw from
memory, two to three
basic colors, no lettering
or seals and must be dis-
tinctive. It also should
include meaningful sym-
bolism, such as the French
tri-color flag that used to
represent the French Rev-
olution’s goals for liberty,
equality and brotherhood.
He said flags invoke
spirit and civic pride and
serve as a way for a com-
munity to rally around a
cause.
McKinley pointed to
Portland’s flag — a green
field with a white four-
pointed star radiating blue
and yellow stripes — as
an example. Portland’s
flag was ranked seventh
out of 150 city flags in a
2004 survey by the North
American Vexillological
Association and features
prominently at Portland
Timbers games. Salem’s
flag was ranked 51st.
“They fly it like there’s
no tomorrow. If we can
come up with something
that even approaches the
feelings (associated with
the Portland flag), then I
will be very content with
the process that we went
through,” McKinley said.
McKinley, who’s the
director of the Oregon
Legislative Education and
Outreach Office, said he’s
always been interested in
the concept of flags. In the
eighth grade he and his
friends created a country
called the United Sanarian
Republic and crafted a
flag from two t-shirts,
one red and one blue. He
said they added the blue
because of weekends
they spent on lakes near
Oakridge.
National Guard taps units for Oregon begins paying out $300
rapid response to civil unrest weekly unemployment bonuses
Another 87,000 Oregonians may be eligible for the payments,
according to the Oregon Employment Department
By Lolita C. Baldor
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The
National Guard has desig-
nated military police units
in two states to serve as
rapid reaction forces so they
can respond quickly to any
potential civil unrest around
the country, following vio-
lent protests that rocked the
nation’s capital and several
states this summer.
Military leaders don’t
explicitly tie the changes
to concerns about possible
election-related violence,
but the nation is bracing
for unrest surrounding
the tumultuous presiden-
tial campaign, particularly
if voting results are not
known for days or weeks
because of the increase in
mail-in ballots.
According to the Guard,
about 600 troops — 300 in
both Alabama and Arizona
— will be ready to deploy
within 24 hours if requested
by a governor in another
state. And Guard leaders
have also bought more than
$200,000 in new protec-
tive equipment, and have
increased troop training
on proper procedures in
dealing with protests.
The moves come as
Defense Department and
National Guard leaders
work to address shortfalls
that were identified in the
military response to the
June protests triggered by
the death of George Floyd
in Minneapolis. Military
reviews of the response to
By Mike Rogoway
The Oregonian/OregonLive
Alex Brandon/Associated Press, File
In this June 1, 2020, file photo, District of Columbia Nation-
al Guard and U.S. Park Police advance through the white
roses in front of the AFL-CIO headquarters as they move
demonstrators back after they gathered to protest the
death of George Floyd near the White House. The National
Guard has designated military police units in two states to
serve as rapid reaction forces to respond quickly to civil
unrest around the country.
the protests found prob-
lems with coordination
between various state and
federal government and law
enforcement agencies —
which at times slowed down
troop movements.
“Coordination and com-
munication were the prob-
ably the things that we’ll
look back on and see very
challenging,” Army Secre-
tary Ryan McCarthy said
in an interview with The
Associated Press. He said
that as the protests esca-
lated in D.C., and the call
for help went out to gover-
nors around the country,
11 states said they were
willing to provide support.
“But the problem with
that is how quickly can
you marshal them together,
ensure they have the appro-
priate training, ensure they
have the appropriate equip-
ment, understand the task
you’re going to give them?”
said McCarthy. “It’s Amer-
ican streets. It could turn
violent. It was an incredibly
challenging thing.”
Governors can use
National Guard troops for
a variety of things, ranging
from natural disasters such
as hurricanes and wildfires,
to assisting with border
security and civil unrest.
If a governor needs addi-
tional help, they can request
troops from other state
governors through a com-
pact agreement system that
details how the forces will
be used and what they can
and cannot do.
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SALEM — Oregon
paid out $225 million in
unemployment bonuses
to 148,000 people on
Wednesday, Sept. 30, the
first day the state began
issuing the $300 weekly
bonuses.
The money comes
from an executive order
President Donald Trump
issued last month; it pays
$300 a week for Orego-
nians who claimed job-
less benefits between July
26 and Sept. 5. Oregon
is paying the money ret-
roactively to cover the
weeks when laid-off or
furloughed workers were
eligible.
Another 87,000 Orego-
nians may be eligible for
the payments, according
to the Oregon Employ-
ment Department. Most
workers must certify
their eligibility. Others
who have already certi-
fied their eligibility may
be getting their payments
within the next few days.
The $300 weekly
bonus was a temporary
replacement to a $600
weekly bonus that Con-
gress approved in March
as part of a coronavirus
relief package.
That bonus expired in
July and Congress has
been unable to agree on a
replacement.
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