WM Council will vote on resolution to recite Pledge

WM Council will vote on resolution to recite Pledge

Veterans urge council to reinstate recitation to open meeting

news@theeveningtimes.com

Impassioned pleads were heard during a special West Memphis City Council work session about saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

Before the last city council meeting, Councilman Wayne Croom had wondered out loud why the Pledge was not recited. He wanted to reinstate the practice before regular meetings were called to order. Discussion broke out all around the table among city councilors but nothing could be resolved before the council had to start its final meeting of 2017.

Representatives from the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Crittenden County Veteran Service Officer Mickey Littlejohn and city resident Anita Bell ringed the meeting room while six of the ten city councilors, the mayor and the city attorney discussed reinstating the Pledge before the twice monthly city council meetings start.

Longtime alderman Tracy Catt had been on council long enough to remember the Pledge being said, but neither he nor anyone else could say why it fell out of practice.

“I never remember that it was voted on,” said Catt. “I think we just skipped it once and it fell out of practice. I don’t know why. It was inadvertent. It was just one of those stupid mistakes.”

Catt promised to go through his archive of city council minutes to find when and possibly why the practice ended.

American Legion Commander Jim Fiveash said he was also a member of the VFW and spoke on behalf of veterans. He was dismayed that no one recalled the reason for the pledge being dropped but had plenty to say about renewing the practice.

“I speak for all veterans,” said Fiveash. “We fought for that man who sat through the Pledge right to do so. For it not to be part of the agenda truly hurts my heart. That is what is wrong with our country today, a lack of respect of our forefathers and what they tried to achieve. Hold those standards as high as you can. The American people are fed up with the attitudes in our home towns and schools and even in some of our churches taking the attitude that it doesn’t matter.”

The Vietnam veteran talked about commitment of veterans and apathy about the pledge.

“I told someone at the Legion the other day, it’s pretty sad that we gave four years of our lives and they are having to have a discussion at city hall about spending less than four minutes to Pledge Allegiance to the same flag we defended.”

An incredulous city resident Anita Bell told councilors her family had a long line of veterans and also called for renewing the Pledge at council meetings.

“The way this was presented in the paper, I just thought surely this is not happening in our community; that we have to question whether the Pledge of Allegiance can be said or not,” said Bell. “It’s interesting that it just somehow got left out at some point and that its been forgotten.

It breaks my heart.”

Councilwoman Helen Harris recited the Pledge and said is not controversial.

“What is controversial with that?” asked Harris. “I don’t see anything wrong with it. It ends with Justice for all. Don’t we want justice for all?” Councilwoman Lorraine Robinson noted that the Pledge is recited daily at the elementally school where she works and said she had no problem with it.

She expressed an emotional attachment to the flag stemming from the loss of one of her cousins during Vietnam. She thanked the veterans on hand for their service.

“It’s no controversy to me,” said Robinson. “My best friend and first cousin was killed in Vietnam when he was just 19 years old. I recognized at my young age that there was a flag over his casket. The Honor Guard folded the flag and presented it to my aunt.

From that time to this time, I’ve had the utmost respect for veterans and the flag.”

Councilwoman Ramona Taylor called for a consensus toward making a resolution. Passing a resolution takes a simple majority of six and the six council members at the meeting were unanimously for the reinstating the pledge. The last bit of business had to do with how to make it official.

City Attorney Mike Stephenson reported his legal research and said it was just a matter of a simple agreement among the majority of council. But Mayor Johnson and Councilwoman Taylor wanted it locked down with documentation and called for a

resolution. “To prevent future misunderstanding

in the future regarding

the pledge, let’s take an extra two weeks and put it in the form of a resolution,” said Johnson.

“That way, years from now when we may be gone from here, people may say they can just take it off anyway — so let’s put it in a resolution.”

“Putting it into a resolution is proper and legal way to do this,” said Taylor.

The pledge will be set before meetings are called to order.

City council members present included Ramona Taylor, Wayne Croom, Lorraine Robinson, Tracy Catt, Willis Mondy and Helen Harris. Councilman James Pulliaum had expressed favor toward saying the Pledge and called the meeting but was unable to attend. His Ward 2 counterpart Melanie Hutchinson was also absent as was James Holt. Marco McClendon had expressed concern over reciting the pledge when it came up at the end of December. He was absent for the discussion but made an appearance at hospital ceremonies in the morning and sat in on budget hearings after the

pledge meeting ended.

By John Rech