An official with Central City in Sebastian County is disputing the claims of a Sebastian County couple who claim the flag they took down from a flag pole was “torn and tattered.”
“The picture they sent you and the flag they presented at the city council meeting on Tuesday is not the same flag,” said Teresa Harris, city clerk for Central City. “I would put my hand on a stack of bibles that there has never been a flag that looked liked that on our flagpole.”
According to James and Marta Kaelin when they arrived for a June 19 city council meeting no one else showed up for the meeting.
Marta Kaelin said she contacted mayor Chuck Wallace who told her he had cancelled the meeting, but would come down to the city hall to meet with her about her concerns.
According to the Kaelins, while the couple waited James noticed that the flag was flying at half-mast and when he took it down in order to raise it again per flag etiquette, he noticed the flag was tattered. He removed thee flag from the flagpole.
James and Marta then said that an effort was then made by Harris to have James arrested for stealing the flag.
Mayor Wallace says the entire deal has been blown out of proportion.
“We got into a big blow-up Tuesday night at the council meeting and I had to call the meeting back to order several times,” said Wallace. “I said Tuesday night we need to let bygones be bygones and move on. We have enough stuff to worry about without getting into all this ‘he said, she said’ stuff.”
“I apologized to James at the meeting the the other night if he was offended but he was upset that the city attorney wrote him a letter and told him not to take the flag down in the future,” said Wallace. “We told him to contact me or the chief of police and to let us handle it.”
Kaelin said the flag had been at half mast for too long a period when he took it down to re-raise it on June 19. According to Harris, the flag had been lowered in honor of Lt. Patrick Weatherford who was killed in the line of duty on June 12 in Jackson County.
Harris said she received word from the governors office to lower the flag for the traditional period of date of death until interment. Harris said she was out of town on the day Lt. Weatherford was buried.
“I don’t dispute it was at half staff for too long,” said Harris. “But it wasn’t intentional. ”
A clearly emotional Harris said that her husband, like Kaelin, is a Vietnam era vet who retired after 20 years in the military.
“I watch that flag, along with two or three others on my drive to work,” said Harris. “I had a new flag here at (city hall) that I reused to allow them to put up for several months just because we needed to paint the flagpole. I have a lot o respect for our flag.”
Wallace said after the incident was reported to him by Harris that he contacted Chief of Police Doug Teague and through mutual consent they decided a letter from city attorney Mike Hamby to Kaelin was the best way to handle the matter.
“Regardless of what anyone says, there was no intention to arrest James at anytime,” said Wallace. “I’m not saying he’s right and I’m not saying she’s right. But the picture Teresa has of what she says was the flag that was flying and the flag James said he took down doesn’t look like the same flag to me.”
Harris said the flag that was flying on the day of the incident may have had a small two-inch tear at the top, but was not tattered in the manner depicted in pictures furnished to Inside Fort Smith.
Wallace said Central City has enough issues to deal with without getting into a protracted battle abut flag protocol between citizens and the city government.
Another source claims the Kaelins, who live outside the city limits of Central City, have a pattern of being disruptive and confrontational during council meetings over various issues.
Wallace and Harris refused to comment on that point, but Wallace says everyone just needs to move on.
“I don’t know much about emails and internet news sites but we were getting bombarded from all sides with negative comments” said Wallace. “I apologized for the city in an open meeting. Whatever happened was an oversight. Everyone just needs to let it go.”
Come on people how many familys live on food stamps and hud in your coty and ya worried bout a stupid flag why not have a counsel meeting on jow to jelp familys get off food stamps and hud mabe help them get school clothes and supplies u people make me sick none of ya should be in charge of nothing but the sewer drains yet that might be to hood of job for ya scum.