NC employee refuses to lower flags for late Helms

[a kennedy]

By MIKE BAKER

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A longtime North Carolina state employee has chosen to retire instead of lowering flags to honor former Sen. Jesse Helms, saying in an e-mail that the late conservative had a "doctrine of negativity, hate and prejudice."

U.S. and state flags flew at half-staff on Monday and Tuesday following an order from Gov. Mike Easley. Helms died Friday.

L.F. Eason III, director of the state Standards Laboratory - which calibrates equipment for critical measurements such as the weight of medicines or trucks on a highway - told his staff to ignore the directive. He sent workers an e-mail saying he didn't think it was appropriate.

"I don't see how anybody could celebrate his career," the 51-year-old said in an interview, noting Helms' opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the filibuster to stall the effort to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday. "Everything he did was such a disservice to this state."

Eason, who had worked for 29 years at the Department of Agriculture, requested the option to retire Monday after his superiors overruled his decision and ordered the flags be lowered. Eason wrote an e-mail to the governor and other supervisors saying he could not in good conscience honor Helms.

The governor's orders were for state agencies to keep the flags lowered until Tuesday at sunset - after Helms' funeral and burial. The flags were flying at full-staff Wednesday.

Full article here: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HELMS_FLAG?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

[Bluebear]

1. Good for Mr. Eason. nt

[Sequoia]

2. Hooray, hooray!!! Good for them.

I didn't want to lower the flag for ole Ronnie when he died either. Did we lower the flags for Tim Russert? (wink)

[bluestateguy]

3. I see a nominee for a Profile in Courage award

That's conviction. No flip floppery. Standing for something and not backing down. Saying what you mean and meaning what you say.

[nilram]

4. this guy is my hero! k&r! -nt

[G_j]

5. from the Raleign News & Observer

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/200/story/43566.html

N. Carolina employee quits rather than lower flag for Helms
By Ryan Teague Beckwith | Raleign News & Observer

RALEIGH, N.C. — L.F. Eason III gave up the only job he'd ever had rather than lower a flag to honor former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.

Eason, a 29-year veteran of the state Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly the U.S. or North Carolina flags at half-staff Monday, as called for in a directive to all state agencies by Gov. Mike Easley.

When a superior ordered the lab to follow the directive, Eason decided to retire rather than pay tribute to Helms. After several hours' delay, one of Eason's employees hung the flags at half-staff.

The brouhaha began late Sunday night, when Eason e-mailed eight of his employees in the state standards lab, which calibrates measuring equipment used on things as widely varied as gasoline and hamburgers.

"Regardless of any executive proclamation, I do not want the flags at the North Carolina Standards Laboratory flown at half staff to honor Jesse Helms any time this week," Eason wrote just after midnight, according to e-mail messages released in response to a public records request.

He told his staff that he did not think it was appropriate to honor Helms because of his "doctrine of negativity, hate, and prejudice" and his opposition to civil rights bills and the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

..more..