Flag on guard uniform

[sctmom 11]

 

ASHEBORO, North Carolina (AP) -- A prison guard says he was fired after he had United States and North Carolina flags sewn onto his uniform shirt and refused to remove them.

 

Bobby Hayes was fired last month as a corrections officer at the Randolph Correctional Center in Asheboro. He had been told to remove the patches from his state-issued uniform or turn it in.

 

"I'm a good officer -- or I was," said Hayes, who worked for the state Department of Correction for two years. "Sometimes there are orders that should not be given -- and that's one of them."

 

Hayes said he was told he was being fired for insubordination.

 

"They told me it might open the door for someone who might want to wear a neo-Nazi emblem," Hayes said.

 

Randolph Correctional Center Superintendent Clinton Holt declined to comment on Hayes' description of events, saying it was a personnel issue.

 

Holt did say the corrections department has a month-old appearance and grooming policy that dictates everything from jewelry to shoe colors -- "leaving little ... to individual expression," the policy states.

 

"If you let each individual express their own preferences on their uniform it's no telling what you'll have," Holt said. "'Uniform' means everything is the same. We're representing the state and someone has made the decision that this is how we'll look."

 

The flag isn't being slighted, correction officials said.

 

"This is not a matter of patriotism (as much) as it is a matter taken to maintain good order and discipline," correction department spokesman Keith Acree said. "If he wanted to make a suggestion he should have gone through the chain of command and not just slap a patch on there."

 

Hayes said he has appealed the firing.

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If you go to the CNN page you can vote on was he being insubordinate or patriotic. Once you vote you can see the voting results so far.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/08/28/flag.uniform.ap/index.html

 

 

[Weekender 10]

As much as it distresses me to think the US flag would be unwelcomed on a state uniform, I have to side with the state on this one. The state has a right to set uniform standards for prison guards. I think this guard should have made the suggestion that the state change their policy and make the US flag part of the uniform. He should not have unilaterally opted to disobey the policy...That is not character.

[FScouter 24]

It's not his uniform to decorate according to his personal tastes. Strange he would take this so far as to be dismissed rather than correctly wearing the uniform. Is he trying to make a statement?

[yaworski 10]

According to Mike Walton, a fairly well known Scouter who runs a very informative web site, the US Flag is optional on the Scout uniform but the WOSM patch is required.

 

As for making a statement, I applaud that fellow. Not many of us have the guts or balls to put our job in jeopardy for something that we believe in.

 

 

[twin_wasp 10]

He probably was a good officer, but the prison management has the right to control what is and is not worn in a prison setting, for reasons of safety, consistency and precedent. His job requires discipline, obedience to orders, and adherence to procedure. I have the feeling there is more to this story than meets the eye. It looks like he found a way to maneuver his bosses into an apparent anti flag stance, why would he do this?

 

We could all get a big cling flag and put it on our windshields right in front of the driver, and in most towns get a ticket for driving with obstructed vision. Would that mean that the police were unpatriotic? There are many reasons and places to fly the flag, there are many reasons and places not to fly the flag.

 

I admire his expressions of patriotism, but I question this man's judgement. The flag should be a uniting symbol, not a wedge to drive citizens apart in pointless squabbles over exactly where and when it can or should be displayed.

 

Unfortunately, there are those who love to question the patriotism of others, and any number of political commentators who will jump on the bandwagon of villifying this man's bosses.

 

ETF

 

[yaworski 10]

I think that we need to ask if this town in NC is an extension of Berkley where the flag was removed from fire trucks because it offended too many people.

 

Why doesn't this agency already have the flag(s) as part of the uniform?

 

Inquiring minds want to know!

[Glenn 10]

As one who worked in Asheboro, NC for three years, I can tell you it is a typical small southern town. Fairly conservative and active in the Bible Belt leanings (whole county was dry - twice in my three years there they voted against allowing restuarants serving alcohol).

 

As for the guard, I feel he was being insubordinate. As someone else mentioned, he should have petitioned the state to allow the flag(s), and should not have begun to wear it without permission.

[sctmom 11]

This is the statement that concerned me:

 

"They told me it might open the door for someone who might want to wear a neo-Nazi emblem," Hayes said.

 

Did the state really say that? Do they really think that?

 

[Rooster7 11]

I agree with Glenn. The guard may be a nice guy, but I think he went about things the wrong way.

 

As for the quote - "They told me it might open the door for someone who might want to wear a neo-Nazi emblem" If in fact someone said this, it was probably stated by a supervisor who isn't being paid to know the law all that well. I'm certain the state could put a flag on their uniform without that fear becoming a reality.(This message has been edited by Rooster7)

[eisely 13]

I agree with the others that there is more to this than meets the eye. The state has a right and a duty to set uniforming standards for its uniformed personnel. This guy was out of line.

[yaworski 10]

While I don't disagree that the state had a right to fire him, I don't agree that he was out of line.

 

He was willing to take a stand and suffer the consequences. The history of the early Christian church is filled with people who were willing to take a stand. Too few people are really willing to put their jobs on the line today.

 

Perhaps things would have turned out differntly if he had gone through channels. Perhaps the state would have rejected the idea of putting the flag on the uniform. However, now the matter has been brought out into the public forum and may well be discussed on the floor of the state house instead of by bureaucrats who would spend months debating whether the flag should be displayed.

 

 

 

 

[VH_50 10]

CNN, I think, was missing the point when they asked visitors to their website whether the guard was being patriotic *or* insubordinate.

 

Looks to me like he was being both . . . surely, in a democracy founded by a revolution, it's possible to engage in civil disobedience *because* you love your country?

[yaworski 10]

"in a democracy founded by a revolution, it's possible to engage in civil disobedience *because* you love your country? "

 

Hoo-RAH!