Old Glory. The Red, White and Blue. The symbol of freedom and liberty. People have saluted it, worn it, burned it and still it waves. The flag of the United States of America. We have received a multitude of phone calls with various questions about the flag and flag etiquette.

The City of Alliance itself does not own the flags that are currently flying over the streets of the city. The flags you see are owned by the Alliance Area Chamber of Commerce. The Retail Division of the Chamber is in charge of the flags. The city puts up and takes down the flags at the request of that organization and in the spirit of cooperation. The Water Distribution Department employees are responsible for the actual work of mounting the flags. The reason the city does the work is because we have a bucket truck that can reach the flags. Beyond that, we are committed to the health, safety and well-being of the community. We believe that flying Old Glory contributes to that effort. Decisions about when the flags are displayed, however, are made by the Chamber of Commerce and not the city administration.

According to Gordon Harrison of the Retail Division of the Chamber, the flags have been flying over the city, as we fly them now, for about twelve years. The original set of flags (there are about 65 of them) were purchased with donations from Chamber of Commerce members and residents. W. J. Egli made the brackets for the flags from tubing donated by Alliance Tubular products, now known as Pittsburgh Tube Company.

The flags are replaced about every three years because of wear and tear. The set that is flying now was donated by the American Legion Post 166 and the VFW Post 1036. They are cleaned, repaired and stored by Mike Miller at Manhattan Cleaners.

The flags are hung by the City of Alliance Water Distribution employees about a week before Memorial Day in the spring and taken down by the same employees about a week after Labor Day in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce.

This year, the September 11 terrorist attack happened at the same time the flags were being taken down on the annual schedule. The city employees were asked to put the flags back up at the major intersections and leave those that hadn’t been taken down yet. The flags generally fly on Union Avenue, State Street, and Main Street. Gordon Harrison said it was the intention to leave the flags up until the nation’s flags are no longer being flown at half-staff.

Since the same brackets are used to hang both the flags and the Christmas wreaths, there is no way to display both at the same time. The Christmas wreaths are usually displayed the first week of November. Those wreaths are also owned by the Chamber of Commerce and the city workers put them up. We have been asked by the Chamber of Commerce to have city workers begin the display of the Christmas wreaths no later than November 15 of this year.

Suggestions or comments on the display of the flags should go to the Chamber of Commerce at 330-823-6260. We will do whatever the Chamber wants us to do with their flags and wreaths.