Hide the Flag!
On December 5, 2007 the East Cocalico Township Board of Supervisors "accidentally" banned al automotive-related businesses from displaying the American Flag! That was a result of a poorly thought out ordinance passed for other reasons. Although the acknowledged at that meeting that their ordinance could have that effect, rather than fix it the passed it anyway. The promised to fix the problem later in a separate vote that night, but it took them almost a full year to correct the problem. So much for patriotism!
My letter to the editor on the subject is below:
Editor,
Ephrata Review,
A curious event took place at the East Cocalico Township board of supervisors meeting on 12/5/07. After a lengthy discussion with a number of local business owners who attended the public hearing, the supervisors passed an ordinance amendment that has the unintended consequence of prohibiting automobile sales, service, and repair facilities from displaying the American Flag!
The revised ordinance adds a subsection which reads “Banners, ribbons, pennants, or similar materials shall not be permitted to be located on any building, structure (including signs) or on the premises.” However, the ordinance fails to define “banner.” In the definitions section of the existing ordinance, it states “Words and phrases shall be presumed to be used in their ordinary context, unless such word or phrase is defined differently within this section.”
All of the definitions of the word “banner” that I have found include a definition similar to “The flag of a nation, state, or army.” This would, of course, include the “Star-Spangled Banner” and the Pennsylvania State Flag. The ordinance singles out automobile related facilities with this regulation. An adjoining commercial facility not automobile related would not be subject to this ban.
Although the supervisors eventually acknowledged that there was a problem with the wording of the ordinance, they unanimously passed it anyway. After its passage, they did vote to follow up and correct the problem at a later date with another ordinance amendment. However, the drafting, review, advertising, and public hearing for that correction will take a significant length of time. Meanwhile, no American Flags are allowed on used car lots, etc.!
My question is, if you are aware that there is a significant flaw in an ordinance (especially one that probably renders it unconstitutional), shouldn’t you fix the problem BEFORE you approve it?
Ken McCrea
Stevens, PA
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© Ken McCrea 2009