order state flags<\/a> to be dropped in respect. Hunt’s tragic passing is the only death of note in the area — or nation.<\/p>\nYet, 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(… 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brick-bats-reportage"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":259,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/01\/get-it-on\/","url_meta":{"origin":253,"position":0},"title":"Get It On …","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"All these flags being half-staff have been making me nervous. A little Internet work, and it turns out to be legit. Formal mourning for a president is 30 days. It's in the U.S. Code. The pertinent section is \"m.\" Poor President Ford. Now the real histories can start to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Body, Home, Street"","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":225,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/08\/two-no-comments\/","url_meta":{"origin":253,"position":1},"title":"Two No Comments","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 5, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"A popular sportscaster in Arkansas , Paul Eells, 70, was killed in a head-on collision a little after 8 p.m. on Monday, July 31. Also killed was the driver of the car into which his sedan crashed, Billie Jo Burton, 40, of Dover, Ark., who also was traveling alone. Eells'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American Culture"","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8189,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2025\/10\/top-ten-list-top-ten-commandments\/","url_meta":{"origin":253,"position":2},"title":"Top Ten List of Top Ten Commandments","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"October 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Top Ten Reasons the University of Arkansas Doesn't Need to Find Places on Campus to Nail 500 Copies of One Translation of the Ten Commandments Editor's Note by Ben Pollock, Local 965 vice president News item: \"U of A Rolls Out Ten Commandments Displays,\" Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Oct. 16, 2025,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"One of the 500 posters of the Ten Commandments donated to the University of Arkansas, mounted at Union Station next to a defibrillator.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/our-ten-commandments.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/our-ten-commandments.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/our-ten-commandments.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/our-ten-commandments.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/our-ten-commandments.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/our-ten-commandments.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1183,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2009\/05\/dixublican\/","url_meta":{"origin":253,"position":3},"title":"Dixublican","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Stereotypes are tough. Arkansas can move right along, minding its own business with no Huckabee or Clinton (either of them) feeding the 24-hour international news cycle in at least 168 hours, when a politico from my northwestern part of the state, prominent only here, opens his yap. State Sen. Kim\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6336,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2019\/04\/your-vote\/","url_meta":{"origin":253,"position":4},"title":"I Would Appreciate Your Vote","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"April 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Candidate Ben Pollock Official U of A photo, summer 2014 I am running this week for a position on the University of Arkansas Staff Senate. The online balloting ends Monday, May 6. If you are a U of A staff member, you may choose to vote for me, and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Education, Coarsely"","block_context":{"text":"Education, Coarsely","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/education-coarsely\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"My Razorback roots go deeper than I thought. My maternal grandfather, Ernest Mendel of Fort Smith (born in Hot Springs), evidently attended the University of Arkansas. I've checked the Senior Walks of several years; he didn't graduate.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ernest-Army-Discharge-1920.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ernest-Army-Discharge-1920.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ernest-Army-Discharge-1920.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ernest-Army-Discharge-1920.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ernest-Army-Discharge-1920.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ernest-Army-Discharge-1920.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":175,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/03\/the-efficiency-committee\/","url_meta":{"origin":253,"position":5},"title":"The Efficiency Committee","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"March 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"In today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (March 20), this brief on 6B, further condensed here: \"The Arkansas Senate will spend about $185,000 to renovate offices for six senators and six staff members, the Senate Efficiency Committee decided Wednesday. \"Walls will be built from the ceiling to the floor so [six] senators who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}