The agenda for tomorrow night’s 7 p.m. Atlantic Highlands Council meeting looks like the meeting will go fast and peaceful, with an executive session at the end to discuss once again, the Mother Theresa property so hopefully something is really happening there.
If it’s any sign, St. Agnes has opened the Thrift Shop in the old Andy Richards house on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 to 3 p.m. so at least it’s a great time to pick up some bargains, be it in furniture, dishes, glasses jewelry, clothes, shoes, and so much more.
But back to the meeting!
If you’re active duty military or have served your country in any of the armed forces, or are one of those parents who has worried long and hard while your uniformed son or daughter was defending this country in some foreign land, you might want to attend the meeting.
You’ll have the opportunity to hear the emotional and heartfelt letter being read by a second generation veteran and true defender of his country.
Former Mayor Fred Rast, a Highlands-born, but lived pretty much all of his life in Atlantic Highlands retired Army officer, is taking up the cause for veterans and proper respect for the flag they all signed up to respect and defend.
The army veteran….he was a Lieutenant colonel when he retired…..has some mighty strong objections to the Gay Pride flag…or any other advertisement or promotion of any other way of life….to be flown on the same official Borough Hall flag reserved for the nation’s colors.
For good reason, flag etiquette permits the MIA or KIA flags..both honoring veterans…to be flown on the same flag pole. But American flag etiquette does not even let the flag of another nation fly on the same pole as the American flag, so how can a gay pride flag be okay?
For anyone who knows anything about flag etiquette, the American flag must always be flown higher than the flag of any other nation, but only on separate poles. The former Mayor is not opposed, it doesn’t appear, to the eight Gay Pride flags that have been flying all month in front of borough hall since they are not on the pole reserved for the nation’s colors.
But when it comes to one up there with the flag he has defended all his life, well, it looks like he sees red, white and blue. He’ll probably tell you that the latest flag etiquette out of Washington gives permission to embassies in foreign countries to fly the gay pride flag on the same pole, but that’s only after it’s been deemed appropriate, since of course it can’t happen in every country.
Isn’t it enough that the entire month is devoted to Gay Pride? Yet there is only one day, one day a year, devoted to the hundreds of thousands of American men and women who have given their lives to protect this country.
Should we advocate to have May be Memorial Military Month rather than simply having a Memorial Day? As the daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother of men and women in uniform, that doesn’t seem like a bad idea to me at all.
Also heard that the American flagpole isn’t going to be the only disagreement being voiced at the meeting. It appears there are some folks upset that Borough Hall was open for business on Juneteenth.
Why be upset because borough hall was open? So were schools. So were many other offices. By the way, county schools were open on Veterans Day. isn’t that a more significant holiday to honor men and women?
What has happened in Atlantic Highlands?
What has happened to the times where people just looked at people and smiled, reached out a hand to help, or even argued about politics at meetings, but got together afterwards to laugh and converse over a cup of coffee or can of beer?
What happened to the Atlantic Highlands that so many people came to for its tranquility, its beauty, its neighborliness, and its friendliness?
Let’s hope the people who came here to get away from all of that wherever they were … left it behind.
