UPDATE:US Flags at Bank of America have been removed.
GAFFNEY, S.C. -- Some residents in Gaffney said that a Bank of America removed flags that were placed on the property to honor a fallen Marine.
Lance Cpl. Christopher Fowlkes died on Sept. 10 at a military hospital in Germany after an attack in Afghanistan. His body returned to the Upstate on Wednesday.
American flags were placed along the route the procession for Fowlkes would take through Gaffney, including Floyd Baker Boulevard.
Brenda Earls said that when she went to check on the flags she had placed, she found that the ones on the property of Bank of America had been removed. She said that she was told by a bank employee told her that she could not put the flags there because of bank policy.
“I just couldn’t believe in this small town that we would encounter something like this,” Earls said. “This is unconscionable to me. To know that we are such a united country and to have somebody say we couldn’t put flags on their property because it was a policy of a bank. I’m shocked.”
Bank of America released a statement to FOX Carolina on Thursday calling the issue a “misunderstanding” about the policy. It reads:
“We want to ensure the community knows how deeply proud we are of the men and women who have sacrificed so much in service to our country. The bank does fly the American flag at our locations throughout the country, and flags were displayed in front of our banking center in Gaffney the evening prior to our dedicated Marine returning home.”
When FOX Carolina visited the Bank of America location at the center of the controversy, American flags were found on the lawn and hanging from a bank entrance sign.
Earls admitted that she did not ask permission to place the flags on the property, but said she did not think it would be a problem. She said that she has since closed her accounts with the bank because she was so upset by the ordeal.
Interview with Brenda Earls:
sigh
The lady should have asked if she could put up flags on someone's property. This is a non-issue and the bank had every right to take down those flags. Had they been contacted first it seems pretty obvious they'd have had no problem. Just a misunderstanding and basically totally stupid.
I dont think so
It was inbetween the grass and sidewalk
Freedom is NOT free!
The Flags at Bank of America are not US Flags.
Will you for once learn the difference between the admiralty Flag and the US Flag. The US flag has no Gold Fringe.
I just got back from the funeral percession
I was standing right in front of BOA with my flag on a ten foot pole. Today they had many many flags in thier yard and thier employees stood on the sidewalk when all the cars came by as they were holding flags!
Freedom is NOT free!
Don't you mean
the American flag came UP off the lawn.
UPDATE Bank of America apologizes over removal of flags
http://www.thestate.com/breakingbiz/story/948354.html
Bank of America officials publicly apologized Thursday “for any misunderstandings” following the bank’s removal of American flags planted outside a branch in Gaffney before a military procession to honor a fallen 20-year-old Marine.
The bank eventually replaced the flags along the boulevard where Brenda Earls had planned to honor Lance Cpl. Chris Fowlkes.
The former Gaffney High football player died in a military hospital in Germany from injuries he sustained in an explosion in Afghanistan. He is scheduled to be buried today.
Earls, who works at a local fruit-stand business, had planted the flags in front of the bank branch on Tuesday, the day before Fowlkes returned home and his flag-draped coffin wound through town as mourners lined the streets.
Earls said the branch manager told her it violated company policy to plant flags in front of the banking center.
“I’m just overwhelmed,” Earls said. “I would never have thought in a little town in America that we would have this kind of attitude.”
The manager told her it was company policy not to allow flags on bank property “because some of our customers might not appreciate it,” Earls said.
Bank of America officials said the manager misinterpreted the company’s policy, which is to display American flags according to federal guidelines, and they issued a public apology.
“We want to ensure the community knows how deeply proud we are of the men and women who have sacrificed so much in service to our country,” Kim Wilkerson, South Carolina president for Charlotte-based Bank of America, said in a statement.
“The bank does fly the American flag at our locations throughout the country and flags were displayed in front of our banking center in Gaffney the evening prior to our dedicated Marine returning home,” Wilkerson said. “We deeply apologize for any misunderstandings.”
Freedom is NOT free!
Gee, that's a sensational title...
Not nearly what actually happened.
I may not know the truth, but I know when I'm being lied to...
I may not know the truth, but I know when I'm being lied to...
That is
what happened
Freedom is NOT free!
this whole situation could
have been avoided with a simple phone call first.
"The two weakest arguments for any issue on the House floor are moral and constitutional"
Ron Paul
I agree that this was messed
I agree that this was messed up, but doesn't it matter who owns the property?
In addition, what if someone fell and impaled themselves on one of the flags... who would be responsible for that? BoA?
Not that I'm a fan of the big banks, but don't they have the right to do what they want with their own property?
...
They definitely have a right
and their customers have a right to respond to their action by pulling their deposits from the trash institution.
_________________________________
Freedom - Peace - Prosperity
I agree with this as well.
I agree with this as well. A good free-market solution to the issue.
...
There's got to be a way....
to get our hands on the so called "policy".....I for one would LOVE to see that!
Tolerance is the virtue of the man who no longer has anything to believe in....
Why did you post this?
What is your point? That a Bank of America employee removed flags that were illegally put on their private property?
I can't believe you asked this question!
FREEDOM - LIBERTY.....
a brave fallen soldier died for those rights which that banner stands for! Or at least it effing used to!
Tolerance is the virtue of the man who no longer has anything to believe in....
It was between the sidewalk
and the grass. public property
Freedom is NOT free!
provisional easement
In most municipalities, sidewalks and the strips of grass between them and the roadways are considered to be PRIVATE PROPERTY, for which the resident or business operator is responsible for maintenance. While pedestrians do have an easement on said sidewalks, the actual custodianship resides with the property owner and not the public. I can walk in front of the bank, as long as I don't obstruct traffic or interfere with their business, but I am not empowered to litter their turf with my decorations.
Earls was probably wrong to assume permission where none existed, and the bank was perfectly within its rights to remove any offending decorations.
If the bank attempts to abandon its responsibilities, the city is likely to drop on their heads and fine them for not keeping the sidewalk clear and for not cutting that narrow strip of grass.
Sorry folks, but you still cannot embrace a contradiction in the real world. Either we respect property or we don't.
Gaea Vindice
LXXI BC: Ego sum Spartacus // MDCCCLVII: I am Dred Scott // MCMVL: Ich bin Anne Frank // MMX: Je suis Assange // MMXI: Ik ben von NotHaus
That's why the TARP money is used to hire security guards.
It is cheap . . . and desperate people are looking for work, so the NWO takes over the use of lands, by kicking you out.
All it takes is a small pickup truck, and a guy with a badge. Some guy with a broken brain, and a desperate need for attention.
We must hold military, police and security guards accountable.
"I did it for the money, is no excuse"!
“Humans, despite our artistic pretensions, our sophistication and accomplishments, owe the fact of our existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.”
http://www.foodincmovie.com/
http://www.dirtthemovie.org/
http://endoftheline.com
And never forget, “Humans, despite our artistic pretensions, our sophistication and many accomplishments, owe the fact of our existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.”
Maybe China will be raising their flag there also,....
like they are at the White House on Sunday.
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/99279
I wonder how much business this will cost BoA
.
It will cost them hardly any
And there in lies the rub. Now she closes her account? Everyone should close every account at bailout banks when stockholders at small banks arer losing everything when they close.
I live in Gaffney
our county only has 45,000 people. Bank of America wont exist in Gaffney past the first of the year!
Freedom is NOT free!
I hope they are all raising cane down there!
I'm from right up I-26 in NC.
Tolerance is the virtue of the man who no longer has anything to believe in....