The board voted to fly the flags every 5 years instead of every 3 years.
Larry J. Kelley, of Amherst, outside of Amherst Town Hall with one of the American flags that annually tries to be placed on display in town on Sept. 11.AMHERST - The Select Board has rejected a request to fly the commemorative American flags yearly on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists attacks, and instead voted 3-2 to fly the flags every five years.
The Select Board decided in a 2008 compromise to fly the small American flags, attached to light posts and utility poles, every third anniversary. Resident Larry J. Kelley this week repeated his annual request for the anniversary to be marked every year with the flying of the commemorative flags.
At the meeting Thursday night, board member James J. Wald said in part he wanted to reconsider the earlier decision because President Barack Obama proclaimed the day “Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance,” and asked that people fly their flags at half staff and work in their communities.
“It was worth talking about,” Wald said. He supported Kelley’s request to fly the flags every year as did fellow board member Alisa V. Brewer.
Select Board Chairman Stephanie J. O’Keeffe proposed the policy of marking the anniversary with flags every five years. “The compromise concept is a good one. The Select Board is split. To me that makes a compromise very reasonable,” she said.
Residents Tina Swift and John W. Coull spoke in favor of the annual flying. Coull said, “the request is reasonable and the compromise borders on silly.”
Swift said the flags “represent us, the American people.” With the ongoing war, they would also be a way of remembering those in service.
Kelley has made the request every summer since the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.