7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 1, 2016
Have we lowered the bar on lowering the lag?
The honor has
been extended
widely over time
By JENNIFER PELTZ
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Nearly
every day, somewhere in the
country, the Stars and Stripes
was lowered to half-staff last
year in one of the most signii-
cant oficial gestures of mourn-
ing and respect, an Associated
Press analysis found.
The centuries-old prac-
tice can be a visible, public
answer to extraordinary loss,
as when more than four dozen
people were killed last month
at a gay nightclub in Florida.
But as the nation marks Inde-
pendence Day on Monday,
lag buffs have noted that the
honor has been extended more
widely over time, including to
celebrities and police dogs.
And some have questioned
whether the country has low-
ered the bar on the lowering
of the lag.
“It can be a very power-
ful symbol, but it can also be
overdone to the point that it
loses its signiicance,” said
John Hartvigsen, president of
the North American Vexillo-
logical Association, a lag ai-
cionados’ group. “You can’t
spell everything out about
this in rules and regulations,
because it has so much to do
with emotion.”
The U.S. Flag Code allows
presidents and governors to
lower lags for oficials, mil-
itary members and certain
occasions, though some states
have their own broader poli-
cies. And even as some states
have moved to tighten their
rules, others faced criticism for
withholding the tribute.
Lowered
328 days in 2015
The AP’s analysis of proc-
lamations from 50 state gov-
ernors and the federal gov-
ernment found the Stars and
Stripes were lowered at least
someplace in the country on
328 days during 2015.
Eight states had orders low-
ering the U.S. lag in effect
over more than 30 days; Mas-
AP Photo/J. David Ake
Flags fly at half-staff around the Washington Monument at daybreak in Washington on June 13, by order of President Obama, the day after more than
four dozen people were killed in the Orlando, Fla., nightclub shootings. As the nation marks Independence Day on Monday, lowering the flag remains
a visible, immediate way to pay tribute in hours of tragedy, but flag buffs have noted that the honor has been extended more widely over time, and
they and other Americans have questioned whether the country has lowered the bar on the lowering the flag.
sachusetts led all others, keep-
ing the lag at half-staff for over
a quarter of the year, including
on the Fourth of July.
Among the hundreds hon-
ored were victims of extrem-
ist attacks, fallen soldiers,
long-serving politicians and
such celebrities as baseball
legend Yogi Berra.
Those honored last year
alone with a half-staff U.S. lag
include ive Georgia South-
ern University nursing stu-
dents killed in a car wreck and
a Downey, California, police
oficer shot in his car in a
police parking lot in an alleged
robbery attempt. Flags were
lowered for a Missouri state
oficial who was running for
governor when he killed him-
self after a radio ad mocked his
appearance, and for an Okla-
homa state road worker who
died helping to ill a sinkhole.
One honoree was a police dog
shot in Ohio.
Controversial honors
Who gets honored, and
when, can be controversial.
Recent years saw tension over
lowering lags nationwide for
former South African Pres-
ident Nelson Mandela and
in New Jersey for the Gram-
my-winning Whitney Hous-
ton .
Seeing half-staff lags on
July Fourth last year jarred
Amherst, Massachusetts, res-
ident Larry Kelley, who felt
the tribute — part of a 13-day
honor for a state senator —
“sends the wrong message” on
the nation’s birthday.
“It just seemed to me to
take away from the whole idea
of lowering the lag,” said Kel-
ley, adding that he’d have felt
differently if the state were
mourning a line-of-duty death
or major public trauma. He ini-
tially didn’t even realize what
the occasion was, until a reader
of his local-issues blog illed
him in.
Concerned that lowering
lags frequently muted the
impact, Kentucky decided
in 2008 to recognize fallen
local military members only
on their burial days. Colorado
established rules a few years
ago spelling out what cate-
gories of people are honored
statewide, including military
members, state oficials and
police and ireighters who die
on duty.
“It’s such an honor and a
recognition for people, you
never want to say no. But you
can’t always say yes,” said
Kathy Green, a spokeswoman
for Democratic Gov. John
Hickenlooper. “So we had to
set some parameters.”
Setting limits
But setting limits can be
thorny.
Even denying lag honors
to a convicted felon didn’t ly
in Rhode Island. Democratic
Gov. Gina Raimondo initially
declined to lower lags this
year for longtime former Prov-
idence Mayor Buddy Cianci,
a Republican-turned-indepen-
dent who’d been convicted
of corruption. Amid an out-
cry from Cianci fans, Rai-
mondo changed her mind “out
of respect for the ofice he held
for 20 years.”
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder,
a Republican, took heat for not
lowering lags after three local
Marines were killed in a March
2015 helicopter crash during
training off Florida. State pol-
icy reserved the honor for those
killed in combat, but after vet-
erans’ groups complained, Sny-
der reversed course.
To Wayne Luznicky, a Viet-
nam War veteran who leads
the Marine Corps League’s
Grand Rapids detachment, the
episode encapsulated muddled
impulses about who gets hon-
ored and who doesn’t.
“Where are the priorities?”
he asked.
Looking at the uneven land-
scape, the Pittsburgh-based
National Flag Foundation
plans to craft half-staff guide-
lines to circulate to governors.
Still, even experts say lag
etiquette is, to some extent, a
personal code.
“The way you honor the
lag,” Hartvigsen said, “is the
way you live as a citizen.”
Seal pups: Selies with them also a problem
Continued from Page 1A
State wildlife oficials had
to euthanize one harbor seal
pup last month after a woman
picked it up on a beach in West-
port, Washington, and appar-
ently carried it back to a house
in a shopping tote. The animal
was unresponsive and lethargic,
Milstein said.
Another couple found a seal
pup on the beach in Garibaldi,
Oregon, and fearing the ani-
mal was abandoned, wrapped
the seal in a beach towel, put
it in their car and placed it in
their shower at home, said Kris-
tin Wilkinson, a NOAA Fisher-
ies regional stranding coordi-
nator. Wildlife oficers returned
that seal to the beach, but it was
discovered dead the next day,
she said. That couple received a
written warning.
In California last year, there
were at least 60 cases where peo-
ple either illegally picked up or
fed marine mammals, said Jus-
tin Greenman, NOAA’s assis-
tant stranding coordinator for
the state. Some of those animals
were re-released; others died in
care or had to be euthanized.
Selies with seals or sea lions
are also a growing problem, he
added.
People’s impulse is to rush
in and help, but it’s better to let
nature run its course, Wilkin-
son said. The risk in taking baby
seals off the beach is that adult
seals may abandon them. “The
best chance they have to survive
is to stay wild,” she said.
Last month, in a case that gar-
nered national attention, a Cana-
dian man and his son loaded a
bison calf into their SUV at Yel-
lowstone National Park because
they thought it was an aban-
doned newborn that would die
without their help. The calf later
had to be euthanized because
it couldn’t be reunited with its
herd.
“This is our Northwest ver-
sion, apparently,” Milstein said.
NOAA
Fisheries
has
launched a “Share the Shore”
campaign to remind beachgo-
ers to leave marine mammals
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Marc Myrsell/Westport Aquarium
A baby seal is seen laying across a shopping tote used
to carry it off a beach in Westport, Wash. State wildlife of-
ficials had to euthanize the harbor seal pup after it was
determined to be unresponsive and lethargic.
alone, to stay at least 100 yards
away and reduce other distur-
bances, such as keeping dogs on
leashes. It’s illegal to harass, dis-
turb or try to move young seals
or other marine mammals.
Wilkinson said they typically
see six to 10 illegal animal han-
dling cases a year, but this year
they’re seeing them earlier in the
season and within a wider area.
Harbor seal pups are born
along the West Coast, typically
from February to May in Cali-
fornia and from spring to late
summer in the Northwest. They
use beaches, docks and other
shoreline areas to rest, regulate
their body temperatures or wait
for their mothers, who typically
are nearby but may not come
near the pups if there are too
many disturbances.
Dr. Jeff Boehm, executive
director of The Marine Mammal
Center in Northern California,
said so far this year 18 marine
mammals have been brought
to his center because they were
harassed or illegally picked up.
Most were eventually released
into the wild after being treated
but three have died.
“These animals have an
innate charm. When you see
one on the beach, they just draw
you in. They’re small. They’re
vulnerable,” he said, but peo-
ple should really pause, take a
step back and call local author-
ities who know best what to do
with them.
NOAA wildlife oficers in
Washington are investigating a
number of cases, including one
in which a seal pup born prema-
turely parked up on the beach
and a homeowner placed the
animal in a tote and removed it,
worried about bald eagles prey-
ing on the seal and making a
mess on the beach, Wilkinson
said.
Last month, a seal wasn’t
illegally picked up but the pup
was killed after wildlife oficials
determined that too much trafic
and people on the beach meant
that the mother was not likely to
reunite with her pup.
In another case, a woman
picked up a seal and briely put
it in her car before someone else
told her to put the animal back
on the beach, said Marc Myrsell,
who directs the Westport Aquar-
ium and whose staff responded to
that incident. That pup returned
to the water on its own.
Last week, a pup was han-
dled so extensively at a beach
park that wildlife responders
determined the constant human
interaction permanently sepa-
rated the pup from its mother.
People held the pup in their laps,
cuddled it and pet the animal for
many hours, she added. That
seal was eventually taken to a
rehabilitation facility.
With rehabilitation, “you’re
giving them a second start, but
you might not be giving them all
the tools they need,” said Dr. Joe
Gaydos, a wildlife veterinarian
with SeaDoc Society. “They prob-
ably have a much better chance if
they stay with their moms.”
Marine mammal stranding
network: http://goo.gl/OfNAaQ
NOAA Q&A: http://goo.gl/
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