Eureka Springs scraps 22 flags for 1

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

American flags won’t be flying on utility poles in downtown Eureka Springs.

A plan to permanently install flags on 22 poles along Main Street has been scrapped.

Instead, the plan now is to install one large American flag on a new pole at the top of Planer Hill, where Main Street intersects U.S. 62, said Mike Bishop, president of the Greater Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce. Bishop hopes to have the flag up for a ceremony on June 14, Flag Day.

Bishop said he was blindsided by opposition to his proposal in the fall to put 22 flags on poles along Main Street.

“It all sounded good and looked good on paper,” said Bishop. “I thought, ‘What a great thing to do!’”

But many people in the tourist town thought a permanent installation of 22 flags was overkill. Opponents called it “right wing,” “jingoism” and “visual pollution.” They claimed it would detract from the aesthetic beauty of the artistic enclave in the Ozarks.

“To have a permanent display of the flags is ridiculous,” John Rankine, a Eureka Springs artist, said in November. “It’s way over the top.”

So, the decision was made to install one large flag instead, Bishop said.

Rankine was OK with that.

“If people need a giant flag,I’m all for it,” he said Tuesday. “That seems more appropriate. I am just really glad we don’t have 30 flags down Planer Hill. … If it’s going to appease people, that’s great.”

Exactly how tall the pole will be at Planer Hill and how large the flag will be has yet to be determined, said Bishop.

James DeVito, a member of the Eureka Springs City Council, said he’s reserving his opinion until he knows more about those dimensions.

“As long as it’s not a garrison flag, those big flags you see at the car dealerships,” said DeVito. “I’m against that. That’s proportionally out of scale to the area.”

Mayor Morris Pate said the flag won’t be that big.

“The intersection’s not thatbig,” the mayor said.

“It may not be quite as big as those, but it’ll be the biggest one in town,” said Bishop.

Pate, the Chamber of Commerce and American Legion Walker-Wilson Post No. 9 are behind the flag initiative.

The flag site is city-owned property, said Pate. A hole will be drilled, concrete poured and an electric light installed, Bishop said.

It’s being paid for with donations, not public money, the mayor noted. Pate donated $500, and his donation was matched by Alderman Mickey Schneider.

Articles about the proposal appeared in Eureka Springs’ two weekly newspapers in late October.

That set off a controversy primarily on social media - Facebook and Geekfest.com, which has an open forum that draws Eureka Springs residents.

Bishop said more than $3,000 had been raised as part of the plan to put 22 flags along Main Street. Now, donors are being called and asked if their gifts can be used for one large flag instead. So far, none had asked for a refund, said Bishop.

The original proposal was for flags to be on Southwestern Electric Power Co. light poles from Planer Hill to the train depot on North Main Street, a stretch of about 1.5 miles.

But, Pate said, SWEPCO changed its mind because of the controversy.

In November, Peter Main, a spokesman for SWEPCO, said the company has allowed flags on light poles in other cities.

“It’s not unusual for SWEPCO to allow flags and banners on our utility poles in communities across our three-state service territory,” he said in an email. SWEPCO has customers in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.

“Flags would be allowed on our poles as long as they follow our guidelines and meet with city approval,” wrote Main.

Main was on vacation Tuesday and couldn’t be reached. Another SWEPCO spokesman, Scott McCloud, said he wasn’t aware of thechange regarding Eureka Springs, but said it may have been done for safety reasons.

“From my experience here in Shreveport, flags should not be on utility poles, just for safety reasons,” said McCloud. “Nothing is really supposed to be put on a utility pole, ever. … Maybe someone thought about the safety issue and decided not to pursue it.”

For almost a year, SWEPCO has been in the news because of a proposed high-voltage power line that would go through Benton and Carroll counties. Thousands of people have filed comments with the Arkansas Public Service Commission opposing the power line, especially the routes thatwould take it near Eureka Springs.

McCloud said the decision regarding the flags had nothing to do with the power-line proposal.

Besides the one large flag, Bishop said supporters will do a “flag awareness program,” encouraging residents and business owners to fly American flags on specific holidays.

“There are 20 or so designated holidays when you’re supposed to fly the flag,” said Bishop. “We’re going to start with that and see if we can’t build some momentum.”

DeVito said he believes the proposal will go before the city’s Historic District Committee.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 03/26/2014