Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 7, 1995 TAG: 9508070075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SHEBA WHEELER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Citizens may think the best way to dispose of a soiled or wind-torn American flag is to dump it in a trash can.
Not so. There is a "proper, more dignified way" to dispose of unusable flags that many citizens may not know about, says World War II veteran Ike Payne.
That method, believe it or not, is to burn them. This is nothing like the anti-war protests of the 1960s and '70s. This is ceremonial flag burning that falls under the Flag Code of Etiquette.
The Roanoke chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart is the first chapter in the state and the only office in Roanoke to sponsor disposal of damaged American flags, said Payne, chapter founder and national service officer.
Flags are collected at an office in the Poff Building, Room 1009, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. They are taken to an outdoor incinerator at Smith Mountain Lake and burned. The service is free.
"If you go and try sneaking [a flag] into the garbage, then that's against the United States law," Payne said. "The law says flags used that are no longer serviceable shall be burned."
Congress adopted a Flag Code of Etiquette in 1942, instructing citizens about the universal custom and rules governing usage of the flag. Most people can remember being told to remove their hats, stand at attention, face the flag and place their right hand over their heart when pledging allegiance to the flag.
But many are not aware of the code's other guidelines, including the proper way to dispose of flags, Payne said.
The universal custom is to display the flag outdoors from sunrise to sunset, when weather conditions will not damage it. If the flag is displayed at night, it must be illuminated. Other rules include flying the flag daily near the main building of every public institution, especially on national and state holidays. It should be flown at half -staff until noon on Memorial Day, and always hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.
People should never allow their flag to touch anything beneath it, including ground, floor, water or merchandise. It should not be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free. The flag should not be used as drapery or a covering for a ceiling, nor should it be used as a portion of a costume or athletic uniform. And no other flag or pennant should be placed above or at the same level and to the right of the U.S. flag except during church services conducted by naval chaplains at sea.
And when the flag is damaged and is "no longer a fitting emblem for display," it should be destroyed "in a dignified way, preferably by burning, privately," the code instructed.
"It has to be a moral law [to ceremoniously burn a flag]," Payne said. "To my knowledge there has never been anybody that I know of arrested for putting a used flag in a garbage pail."
American Legion posts have held flag-burning ceremonies across the nation June 14 - Flag Day, said Dan Karnes, commander of the American Legion Post 3 in Roanoke.
"The code suggests that individual citizens should discreetly burn their flag so that the act of destruction is not seen as a protest or desecration," Karnes said.
Those who seek to maintain flag etiquette distinguish between privately destroying a damaged flag and publicly burning one to express dissent or political unrest.
A political debate haunts the nation since a 1989 Supreme Court decision overruled a Texas law that made it a crime to burn the U.S. flag. The high court said the Texas law was unconstitutional because it curbed freedom of expression protected by the First Amendment.
In June, the House Judiciary Committee approved a constitutional amendment that would restore to the states and to Congress the authority to ban desecration of the U.S. flag.
Ceremonial burning "doesn't have even a remote connection to burning the flag to express frustration," Payne said. "We are hoping that a law could be passed to make protest flag-burning unconstitutional. But what we are doing is disposing the flag out of dignity and respect."
Military Order of the Purple Heart organizers believed it was their chapter's responsibility to offer a convenient and needed service to the community by taking damaged flags and burning them, Payne said. In one month, the office has collected and destroyed a dozen flags.
David Mills, owner of Mills Auto Service in Callaway, said it took nearly a year before the wind ripped and tied knots in his government-certified flag, which has flown over the White House. Mills believed it was degrading to the country to throw the flag away, so he brought it in to Payne for disposal.
"I didn't know exactly what needed to be done to dispose of them, but I didn't think it was right to just throw them in the trash, either," Mills said. "I'm real patriotic about these things."
Custodial foreman Cyril "Maury" Cook, of the Poff Building, gave Payne three flags to burn. Cook said he wouldn't feel good about letting anyone else dispose of the flags.
Payne said he hoped that people who brought in flags also could learn more about the national service office, which was established in 1990 to help veterans secure benefits due them for military service.
More than 100 members belong to the Roanoke chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, which was created in Virginia more than 10 years ago. The chapter is the third-largest of 11 in the state. A veteran must have been wounded in combat by enemy fire to become a member.
by CNB