As much of a shock that this might be to some. I think this man has a right to do this.
He quit rather than lower flag for Helms – (newsobserver.com)
L.F. Eason III gave up the only job he’d ever had rather than lower a flag to honor former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.
Eason, a 29-year veteran of the state Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly the U.S. or North Carolina flags at half-staff Monday, as called for in a directive to all state agencies by Gov. Mike Easley.
When a superior ordered the lab to follow the directive, Eason decided to retire rather than pay tribute to Helms. After several hours’ delay, one of Eason’s employees hung the flags at half-staff.
The brouhaha began late Sunday night, when Eason e-mailed eight of his employees in the state standards lab, which calibrates measuring equipment used on things as widely varied as gasoline and hamburgers.
“Regardless of any executive proclamation, I do not want the flags at the North Carolina Standards Laboratory flown at half staff to honor Jesse Helms any time this week,” Eason wrote just after midnight, according to e-mail messages released in response to a public records request.
He told his staff that he did not think it was appropriate to honor Helms because of his “doctrine of negativity, hate, and prejudice” and his opposition to civil rights bills and the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Yes, I know the Governor put out a mandate. But you know, a man has a right to protest something. If the man did not agree with Jesse Helms’s politics and was in charge of that area. He should have been allowed to not follow the mandate. Yes, I know, he is a Democrat, and an Edwards Supporter. However, I am a strong believer in individual freedom, and this man was simply displaying his disdain for someone, whom he disagreed with his politics, and he ended up having to retire for it. I just do not think that was right. I guess this is another one of them times, when I do not tow “The Party Line”.
Others: The Daily Dish, Think Progress, Democratic Strategist, JammieWearingFool and The American Scene
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