Half staff is half mast

(… unless the old sailor or old soldier gets insulted then you never forget that here in landlocked Arkansas it’s always half staff)

Several American flags in the town of Lowell, home of the headquarters of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, have been flying half staff the last few days. Of note are two: the Northwest Arkansas Business Center’s flag pole, between its three brick buildings, and the McDonald’s a block away.

Hunt died this week, of a fall. Though widely admired, he was not a public official, and no online search indicates the governor ordered flags flown at half staff. And if the governor did, he could only order state flags to be dropped in respect. Hunt’s tragic passing is the only death of note in the area — or nation.

Yet, in driving around I saw that two banks’ flags are all the way to the top in the little city, as is the Lowell post office’s. Dropping the Stars and Stripes is to be done due to an official’s proclamation; not by the well-meaning impulse of a flag’s owner.

I stopped in the McDonald’s to ask why the flag was set for mourning, and the two young clerks told me they didn’t know why and that in fact they were unaware the flag was not all the way up. They assured me that when there was a free moment, they’d go out and raise the flag.

More than six hours later, after the drive-in had closed, I drove by on my way home. “And the flag was still there” — half-way down. Maybe it was half-way up. -30-