By Amanda Estes

Staff Writer

    The controversy over a South Portland ordinance
prohibiting the display of yellow ribbons on city property may soon
play out once again. According to news reports, a petition calling for
an amendment to the ordinance that would allow the ribbons to stay up
year round is circulating around the city and has gained as many as
2,000 signatures.

    In 2003, Valorie Swiger, was outraged when South
Portland officials removed hundreds of ribbons she had placed
throughout the city in honor of troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Swiger led a movement to change the ordinance to allow for displays of
public support of the troops.

    When Valorie’s son Sgt. Jason W. Swiger was killed
March 25, the city council unanimously approved a suspension of the
ordinance for 30 days. The council called for yellow ribbons to be
displayed on all city property as a tribute to Swiger and Private Angel
Rosa, who was killed within the same two-week period.

    “The exception that we made was never intended to be
a political statement about public approval or public disapproval about
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Mayor Claude Morgan said on Tuesday.
“It was a tribute...the city offering a humane gesture and an
acknowledgment of two of our native sons.”

    Although Morgan has not seen the petition, he said
there would likely not be enough support on the city council to make a
permanent change in the ordinance.

    Former City Councilor and State Representative Louis
Maietta, who is believed to be closely involved with the petition
effort did not return calls for comment.

    Paul Nixon, who ran for a seat in the legislature
and served on the planning board, provided clarification on Wednesday
about who is behind the petition. Nixon said it is a group of community
members proposing a change to the ordinance and not one individual. He
said the group is comprised of people that feel the city is not doing
enough to show support for the troops.

    Councilor Maxine Beecher said she would not be in
favor of amending the ordinance. She said allowing the yellow ribbons
to stay up would present a freedom of speech issue because the same
opportunities would have to be granted to people against the war.

    “Do we want the KKK to come set up a freedom of speech poster?”she asked.

    Changing the ordinance, she said, would ultimately
spark a battle about who has the right to express their opinions. She
said the issue will pit neighbor against neighbor.

    Beecher said the war didn’t seem real until it hit
home with the Swiger and Rosa’s deaths. She said suspending the
ordinance was the right thing to do, but the issue should not go any
further.

    “I will not be doing anything to bring it back or
change the ordinance,” she said. “It works the way it is and it doesn’t
divide the community, which is exactly what it did before.”

    City Attorney Mary Kahl said displaying the yellow
ribbons in memory of the two men was determined to be within public
purpose. In 2003, she said the council chose not to amend the
ordinance, but did give permission to display yellow ribbons along the
parade route on the following Veterans’ Day because it was also in line
with public purpose.

    “The council is not allowed to let one view point be
expressed but not others,” Kahl said. Any amendments made by the
council would have to be “content neutral”and not exclude any view
point, she said.

    Nixon said he is not opposed to allowing other
groups the opportunity to make public statements., pointing to the
weekly anti-war protests on the Casco Bay Bridge.

    “It’s a free country,” he said. “Let people make the statement.”