Following the news that Sgt. Jason Swiger was killed
in Iraq last month, the Sentry decided to post to our on-line archive
several of the stories about him we ran several years ago. Among the stories we posted
we included several about the debate in 2003 over whether yellow
ribbons should be allowed on public property. We thought hard about
including these stories in our small tribute to Sgt. Swiger. On the one
hand bringing up old animosity and division at a time when the city of
South Portland was coming together could be construed as being in poor
taste. On the other hand, it was an important debate that had a very
personal connection to that soldier.

    Now that that debate has resurfaced it is
interesting to look back and see how little those wounds have healed
and how little the arguments have changed.

    Those who favor a change in the ordinance say that
an exception can be found to hang yellow ribbons to honor the soldiers
both standing and fallen who serve our country with total devotion.
They wonder how is that political.

    While we sympathize with those who wish to honor,
the fact is such symbols are tantamount to political speech and as
evidence, we need not look any further than Swiger’s own funeral in
which a group of despicable people attempted to use his coffin as a
soapbox to spew hate.

    If a group of well-intentioned people is allowed to
hang symbols to honor the soldiers what can we do to stop people from
hanging signs denigrating those soldiers? Could it happen? It did, but
thanks to the dedication of a group of veterans those hateful people
were marginalized.

    In a previous war, soldiers coming home were mocked
as “baby killers.” Thankfully the discourse regarding this war has not
sunk so low. But surely there are those who harbor such feelings. Would
we allow their speech on our public property?

    Hang ribbons and signs on your property, all those
who support the soldiers can support such a gesture– including those
wary of the Pandora’s box that could be opened if we start picking and
choosing which types of thought to support on our
commons.           
  

  –Ward Peck