Letter: Join us for our First Amendment Flag Rally

Posted 5/22/21

To the editor:

My Fellow Citizens of Barrington, as you may or may not be aware, the Town of Barrington will be flying a rainbow banner on June 1 under the American Flag at the Town Hall over …

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Letter: Join us for our First Amendment Flag Rally

Posted

To the editor:

My Fellow Citizens of Barrington, as you may or may not be aware, the Town of Barrington will be flying a rainbow banner on June 1 under the American Flag at the Town Hall over the Barrington Veterans Memorial. It will remain over this hallowed ground for the entire month of June.

Although the United Barrington Veterans Council supports the constitutional rights of all groups regardless of race, ethnicity, gender and/or sexual orientation, we do not feel it is the Town Council's role to pick and choose which special interest groups get the special honor of having their unique banner flown at the Town Hall under Old Glory and over our Veterans Memorial.

We have already seen how the Town Council has arbitrarily denied similar requests of other honorable organizations and groups within our community. If the Town Council cannot honor the first amendment rights of all its constituents then they should refrain from selectively honoring those of just a privileged few. Through their actions, the Town Council has essentially chosen to cancel the voices of all those citizens that do not embrace their activism. They have done so unilaterally and without the any regard to all of our civil rights.

The Barrington United Veterans Council has always and consistently felt that the sound choice for a responsible Town Council would be to only fly the official American, state, town and POW flags over the veterans memorial at the town hall. We understood this a year ago when we first objected to this fool's errand and accurately predicted that the Town Council's folly would eventually lead to an inevitable slippery slope where more controversial banners would be flown. The reality is that the Town Council will never be able to accommodate every honorable organization"s request to have their banner flown.

This became evident this past spring when more than a half dozen worthy requests from other deserving community groups were summarily rejected by our omnipotent arbiters of the First Amendment.   

Our elected Town Council must learn to be the local government of the people, by the people, and for the people, not just the authoritarian advocates for a select few.

In honor of Flag Day 2021, the Barrington United Veterans Council is inviting other freedom and liberty loving individuals to attend our First Amendment Flag Rally at the Barrington Town Hall. It will be held within the vicinity of the Veterans Honor Roll from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on June 14. Feel free to bring your own flag, be it the American Flag, another Patriotic Banner, or one of many flags deemed unworthy by our august Town Council.

Immediately following the rally, we will reassemble at the American Legion Hall for the Solemn Annual Unserviceable Flag Burning Ceremony at 7 p.m. If you have an old American Flag that needs to be properly destroyed, you may bring it there. US Flag Code dictates that burning is the only proper way to dispose of an unserviceable American Flag.   

We need to send a clear message to the Barrington Town Council that our voices matter too.

Thank you in advance for Your Support.

Paul Dulchinos

Barrington

Mr. Dulchinos is Barrington United Veterans Council President.

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