It is just a flag. And flags, being used to differentiate one group from all others, can evoke a wide spectrum of emotion — or none at all. In our modern era, do we consider a city flag to be an irrelevant anachronism? I don’t.

A senior city staff member has told me that I shall never see a flag that represents our community flown at the entrance to Ames’ City Hall. Mayor Tedesco would have us believe the reason this is so is that the city has only one copy of the city flag, an indoor copy. Not as an initiative, as the mayor would characterize it, but as a logical refutation, I offer to raise the funds to have our city flag replicated, if and only if we have an agreement to fly it at City Hall. Our mayor will neither agree to this nor give alternate reasons why our flag should not be so displayed.

“Occasionally one will come across a municipality where the civic flag is tucked away in a cupboard or desk drawer because its design is not pleasing to the mayor or another person in authority, but usually there is not enough interest in the matter to consider trying to change it purely for aesthetics.” This quote is from a paper presented to the 34th meeting of the North American Vexillological Association by John M. Purcell in November 2000.

I first approached the city council to ask them to consider redesigning our flag in September 1995, again in March 2000 and in March 2001. As our assistant city manager explained, no answer is an answer of no. It is just a flag.

A new and apparently more important flag was raised at City Hall in April 1997. This flag was sanctioned not by the city council, but by the city manager. This flag represents the city’s employees, not the greater community.

Section 1.7 of the City Code states that the “flag designed by Beverly Bartels [is] … for use on all occasions where a distinctive city symbol in the way of a flag may be fittingly displayed.”

We live by the rule of the law. A law that is not upheld should be repealed. Finally, on Nov. 12, the city council with unanimity initiated this process. I urge our elected representatives to concurrently undertake the redesign of our city flag. Yet, it is just a flag.

J.A. Franz

Ames