Tragedy hits home

Readers ask for flag etiquette information

Since Tuesday's tragedy, residents across the country have hoisted their U.S. flags to show their patriotism and unity. It is no different locally.

The Southeast Missourian has received a number of calls about the proper etiquette of flag display. The American Legion adheres to the following rules, which were adopted by the National Flag Conference in Washington in June 1923:

It is customary to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flag staffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly lit at night.

When the flag is displayed from a staff projecting horizontally or at an angle from the window sill, balcony, or front of a building, the union, or blue field of the flag, should be placed at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half staff.

The flag should not be displayed during bad weather, except with an all-weather flag.

When the flag is displayed on a car, the staff should be fixed firmly to the chassis or clamped to the right fender.

When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall or window, the union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right, that is, to the observer's left.

The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.

A complete listing of the rules can be found at the American Legion's Web site at www.legion.org/americanism/flagcode.htm.

American Red Cross changes schedule

The American Red Cross has had to change several blood drives in the area due to the national disasters in New York and Washington. The schedule for the rest of the week is as follows:

The Red Cross will be accepting blood donations from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. today, Wednesday and Thursday on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University at the University Center Ballroom on the top floor.

On Friday, donors can give at Three Rivers College in Poplar Bluff from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. in the Bess Activity Center.

Canceled drives this week include: the Jackson Church of Christ on Wednesday, and Friday drives at Main Street Fitness in Jackson and Marquand-Zion High School.

Travel less trouble than indicated

National television media repeatedly have shown videotape of airports jampacked with irritated travelers.

Not the case in St. Louis and Chicago, says one Cape Girardeau man.

Richard Bauman, 53, general manager of Concord Printing Services, said he flew from Lambert International in St. Louis to Chicago Midway on Friday on Southwest. The flight was 30 minutes late, but that was nothing unusual.

"Security was really not that much different," he said. "They didn't ask for picture identification. They only needed confirmation that I was on a flight that day. There were no lines."

The story was a little different on the return trip. At Midway, two armed guards checked picture identification before the metal detector, checking picture ID, confirmation, and guards at a second checkpoint just before the terminals checked the ID again, along with Bauman's flight itinerary.

The process added only a few minutes to his regular waiting and travel time.

"I still believe even through all this it is the safest form of travel," Bauman said.

He arrived at Lambert at 7:25 a.m. Monday and said the airport had only 30 percent of its usual activity for that time.

Staff writer Scott Moyers and managing editor Heidi Hall contributed to this report.