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Yet Another Frightening Story Out of Colorado

Eric Hamlin, a middle school geography teacher in Jefferson County, Colorado, received a letter of reprimand his very first week of class. The reason? He displayed the flags of Mexico, China and the United Nations in his classroom as teaching aids, as he has always done throughout his geography-teaching career.

Hamlin was told to take the flags down by the assistant principal. She said it was Jefferson County School District policy that he could not display the flags. Hamlin said he took issue with that, and an hour later, she returned, saying it was actually state law, and she handed him the statute:

Any person who displays any flag other than the flag of the United States of America or the state of Colorado or any of its subdivisions, agencies, or institutions upon any state, county, municipal, or other public building or adjacent grounds within this state commits a class 1 petty offense.

However, the statute does include an exception for “a temporary display of any instructional or historical materials not permanently affixed or attached to any part of the buildings.” Apparently, the word "instructional" is a new one to the administration at Hamlin's school. When he pointed it out, he was told that the flags "seemed permanent."

The principal then told Hamlin to take the flags down, which he refused to do. He was then given the letter of reprimand, and told that he could regain his good standing if her would agree not to display flags of foreign nations, and always obtain administrative approval for any classroom displays he put up. Hamlin refused, and was placed on administrative leave.

Once the news media learned about the incident, things changed. School and county officials agreed to "allow" Hamlin to rotate the flags on a temporary basis, which is what he has done for his entire career. Hamlin resigned from his job, but said that he feels bad for the principal, who is getting "unfair" emails, calling him "Nazi and things like that."

Posted by Diane E. Dees on 08/31/06 at 11:32 AM | E-mail | Print | Digg | de.licio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Yahoo! MyWeb | StumbleUpon | Netscape | Google |



Comments

The principal may not be a nazi...but he is a coward and certainly not a leader!

Posted by: madmatt on 08/31/06 at 12:37 PM

What is the principle's email address? I, among many others, wish to send him emails expressing our opinion about his lack of qualifications.

Posted by: Moon Watcher on 08/31/06 at 1:31 PM

Which means he's a typical human. And, how many males can stand up for doing what the tribe DOESN’T want; can anybody spell “humiliation”? Being in a semi-political job he’s probably of mediocre moral caliber anyway, who – except for some unfortunate publicity – had all the wonderful qualities of a successful politician. (Isn’t it funny how the republican are using “fascists” when they really mean “fundamentalist” ?)

Posted by: john on 08/31/06 at 1:34 PM

I wonder if that can be taken as a "display of flags" in the first place. "Teaching aid" surely belongs to a diffrent category. The principal is neither a nazi nor a coward, just a plain simple idiot with his head stuck up his ***.

Posted by: Tasneem on 08/31/06 at 2:19 PM

I'm from Colorado, and I never knew about this law. I guess most of the teachers I know, including my Mom, and whoever it is that put the high school's own flag up should be prosecuted. That's it, I'm calling the cops!

Posted by: Mander on 09/01/06 at 2:25 AM


The midterm elections will determine whether a majority of Americans prefer democracy or fascism. The choice is so stark and the evidence of the last five years so overwhelming that only idiot can later claim they were fooled by the rabid right.


Posted by: rabblerowzer on 09/01/06 at 8:17 AM

As a Colorado resident, I am appalled and embarassed at the policies that have been built up over 40 years of Republican rule in this state. Two years ago we finally broke that logjam and elected majority Democrats to both houses, but our Republican governor (Bill Owens) remains and wields his veto pen at a record pace. It's now time to bring in a Democratic Governor (Bill Ritter is on the ballot) and begin to sweep away some of the most egregious stuff on the books.

Posted by: JimZ on 09/01/06 at 1:31 PM

As a Colorado resident, I am appalled and embarassed at the policies that have been built up over 40 years of Republican rule in this state. Two years ago we finally broke that logjam and elected majority Democrats to both houses, but our Republican governor (Bill Owens) remains and wields his veto pen at a record pace. It's now time to bring in a Democratic Governor (Bill Ritter is on the ballot) and begin to sweep away some of the most egregious stuff on the books.

Posted by: JimZ on 09/01/06 at 1:32 PM

As a citizen of one of the Empire's backwaters, I cannot help feeling sorry for those of my countrymen who for decades have flocked to the U.S. as the Promised Land. Reading things like this is extremely depressing. Is this the nation that prides itself as a beacon of freedom? With Bush, the only inspiration is of a fascist nature. It only shows that prosperity (money) cannot buy everything.

Posted by: Jaime Galarza on 09/01/06 at 5:28 PM

Sadly this agenda to usurp freedoms has been ongoing for decades. For a feminist perspective alone, read Susan Faludi's 'Backlash', which does a great job of chronicling when the very deliberate and premeditated process of undoing America's best values began to take off last century. The book isn't new, but it is chock full of good to know info.

Posted by: paul miller on 09/01/06 at 6:31 PM

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