Park Service Removes Iowa Yellow Ribbons

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Chuck Jennings

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From AP:


[WEST BRANCH, Iowa - Yellow ribbons tied around utility poles to welcome soldiers home from Iraq (news - web sites) were removed by the National Park Service, which says they are a political statement.



About a dozen ribbons were posted along a park service-owned street that runs through the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, where his presidential library, birthplace and grave site are all located.


A resident who was involved in placing about 40 ribbons around town Tuesday said she cannot understand the objection.


"We wanted to let the troops know that we are welcoming them home," Sandy West said. "I was very disappointed in a government organization that wouldn't even support the kids."


The park service gave the same reason in December when West and relatives of soldiers tried to post ribbons for a soldier who was coming home on furlough.


"If we were to just allow that, by default, we are taking a political stance, whether we want to or not," said Neil Korsmo, chief ranger at the site.


The Hoover site has a designated free-speech area, as do other park service sites, Korsmo said. West said if she had known that, she would have posted the ribbons there.



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I thought that the WHOLE COUNTRY was supposed to be a free speech zone!! :banghead:
 
If it is OK for her to do it with yellow ribbons, how about if gays want to put up pink ribbons? Maybe the local Nazis would like to tack up swastikas.

I appreciate her sentiment, but the NPS has a fee speech area at each sight just for this type of stuff, and reasons. If they couldnt exert some form of order, you'd have anarchy, literally.

This lady also may want to review a list of NPS facilities, like the Vietnam Vets Memorial, Gettysburg and a slew of other miltary sites, and the Memorial at Pearl Harbor. Accusing the National Park Service of insensitivity to the military is ignorant at best.
 
Fre Speech Zones

This entire country is a free speech zone.:cuss:

Haveing specific areas for free speech is like only being able to publish newspapers on Tuesday; or requiring search warrants only on even number days; or only allowing firearms to have 10 round magazines if they were manufactured after a certain date....it's, well ridiculous.

Oops!!! EXCOOOOOOSE me. I just woke after a 25 year sleep. WEhat country am I in?
 
The yellow ribbon has historical roots and signifance to returning troops. How can that be compared to swastikas and pink ribbons? Is the US flag a poliitical statement too? Heaven forbid that troops returning from war see "yellow ribbons." Oh, the humanity. :eek:

The MADNESS has to stop.
 
It's one thing to stand on a milk crate and harangue a politician or bellow out one's viewpoints. It's quite another to leave emblematic symbols on public property.

Per se, if the Rangers condoned yellow ribbons, then the Nazi banners would have to stay too. Sendec is right that the Park must be neutral. It probably would have been better for the Park Superintendent to say, "Yes, we objected to this as littering, but we don't have the maintenance people to remove them." That would give him/her plausible deniability and keep the community happy. I would have done that if I was Park Superintendent.
 
Careful Yeager, that's logic you're using. In the wrong hands it can be dangerous!
 
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