Photo by Mike Brothers
Flag Raising: At the re-opening celebration for McDonald’s Restaurant in Sullivan last week Rick Matthews (right) and Dustin Rawlings raise the new flag to full staff.

•June 19, 2019•
I helped raise the flag at the newly remodeled McDonald’s today. It brought to mind the importance of our US Flag. We all see them flying throughout the US in our travels, but it seems a lot of us take our flag for granted. How many times have we seen a torn and tattered flag just hanging on by a thread to an old pole? No one has the time or effort to care for it properly. How many times have we seen it at half-mast and not really cared to find out why? It is a great responsibility to have a flag pole and care for our flag. If you plan to have a flag, care for it properly. A lot of people have died protecting our freedom, and it’s our Flag that represents this freedom, we all enjoy.
In recent years our Presidents and Governors have changed the way our flag is to be displayed. My understanding is if the President and Governor order the flag to be lowered on all State and Federal properties, then the State and federal funded facilities must all comply. Recent flag lowering was for a president’s wife who passed, the victims of the Virginia Beach shooting, a US Army Corporal from Sterling, Illinois, and a firefighter from Christopher, Illinois.
The statement from Central Management Services explains that all entities covered by the Illinois Flag Display act lower their flag to half-mast for the time prescribed.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story. 

It seems all business’s lower their flag to follow, sometimes not even knowing why, but because “everyone else lowered their flag”. Which also leads to not knowing when to put it back up to its full-mast. For instance: If a flag is to be displayed at half-mast till sunset Friday, it is usually Monday before all the flags seem to get back to full-mast. Sometimes it seems the yo-yo of the flag causes our complacency.
We all want to honor those who have lost their lives protecting our freedoms.
I enjoy the responsibility of being appointed to the honor of the County Flag officer. Thank you to my fellow flag officers throughout the county, you know the responsibility of caring for our flag.
One recommendation I have is to have a dry erase board in a prominent place in your building to explain why the flag is at half-mast and when it will be raised back to its full-mast position.
It is a great responsibility to maintain a flagpole and the flag. If you plan to display the Flag, give it the honor and respect it deserves because whether you realize it or not, everyone notices our US Flag.

Rick Matthews