Flags at Half-Staff for Victims of the Pittsburgh Synagogue

Dear Neighbors,

It is with profound sadness that I do this posting today. Having done half-staff notifications for our shared community - city and suburbs alike - for many reasons and for many years now, they are never routine, eternally through provoking, and always give moments of pause. Still, in the times in which we live and with some of the rhetoric following the murders of our eleven neighbors to the East, this posting is especially difficult. The pull and tug of emotions and duty are conflicting, yet the right path is to do what that same duty requires to provide a way we can share in the emotion of mourning...together, as a single people who very much know right from wrong, hope from fear, and a better road from a lesser path.

So,.

By proclamation, the United Stages flag is to be displayed at half-staff in honor of the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. Flags are to be lowered to half-staff through sunset on Wednesday, Oct. 31. If you are unable to lower your flag, attaching this black ribbon to the top of a U.S. flag is an acceptable alternative for flags that cannot be lowered to half-staff (see attached picture of a black ribbon.)

Questions on half-staffing or flag etiquette? Please ask. Jac.Charlier@gmail.com.

I hope to see you one and all at one of our 2018 Veterans Day Flag and Remembrance Ceremony as we chime the Bells of Peace in this year of commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War I (Armistice Day). More on this to come in the next few days.