Alaska Congressman Don Young, RIP

[Roadgeekteen]

Some people may not have the resources to travel, especially if all they have as income is social security.

Any 40-year congressman would not be part of the category

What makes you think 40-year Congressmen don't travel while being sitting Congressmen? Hell, they get to travel and have the government pay for it.

I'm talking about people without the resources to travel, which congressman would not be in that category.

[Scott5114]

Some people may not have the resources to travel, especially if all they have as income is social security.

Any 40-year congressman would not be part of the category

What makes you think 40-year Congressmen don't travel while being sitting Congressmen? Hell, they get to travel and have the government pay for it.

I'm talking about people without the resources to travel, which congressman would not be in that category.

I'm having a hard time trying to come up with a coherent theme all of your posts are talking about.

[hbelkins]

So that's why FDOT lowered the flag. People at work were asking why flags at half staff.

I assumed it was because of Sec. of State Madeline Albright, who also died recently.

Kentucky's were down over the weekend for her.

Another possibility might be if a Floridian was one of the service members recently killed while on active duty, I think in a helicopter crash. I know a Kentuckian was among those who perished, and our flags will be lowered at some point to honor him.

[Scott5114]

I sort of wonder if flag-lowering is a practice we ought to curtail somewhat. The fact that there are often so many possibilities for who a particular flag-lowering occurrence might be honoring, such that you have to rack your brain for memories of current events or ask around to try to figure out who died recently, kind of makes it so that it's not really all that much of an honor.

I'd probably draw the line at sitting Presidents or instances of great tragedy, like natural disasters or attacks. That would make the act much more impactful. For instance, when Jimmy Carter dies I probably wouldn't lower the flag for him if it was up to me. Yes, he served four years as President, but he's been retired from that position since before I was born.

[hbelkins]

I'm sure that federal law specifies certain instances where flags should be lowered on federal property, but in practice it's left up to governors on state property. Most of Kentucky's proclamations that are done when it's also being done on a federal level will specify, "in concurrence with the federal proclamation..." in the announcement. There's also a phrase included where the governor asks private flag-displayers to join in the honor.

And the state will order flags lowered on state property for such things as the death of a former governor, the aforementioned death of a native Kentuckian or person from elsewhere who's deployed as part of a Kentucky-based military unit, and so on.

In fact, we had a controversy a few years ago when there was a governor who stopped issuing flag status orders when non-Kentuckians who were deployed from Fort Campbell died while on duty. He still issued the decree if a native Kentuckian got killed, but not someone from West-Central Alanland who was stationed at Fort Campbell. Public outcry made him change his outlook.

I've even heard of local officials ordering flags lowered in their communities upon the death of a current or former official, prominent citizen, etc.

In my office, I'm in charge of disseminating the directives, but many of our facilities don't pay any attention.