LA_MERC_Nutria
January 9th, 2005, 07:04 PM
This is an update about the family in Houma displaying the flag:
Houma family will keep its flag
By KIMBERLY SOLET
Senior Staff Writer
HOUMA -- The saga of the Houma parents asked to remove their American flag came to an amicable ending this week.
The owners of the Bayou Gardens apartment complex met with Glynna and Gary Witt on Sunday to apologize for the misunderstanding.
Then they offered to install for the Witts, whose son, Brian, is a Navy medic serving in Iraq, a bracket for their flag.
The device will be fixed about a foot and a half away from the couple’s front door. It will be about 6 feet off the ground and large enough to hold a standard 3-by-5-foot banner.
Dalton Truax Jr., who owns the west-Houma apartments, said maintenance workers also would install for free flag brackets for any other Bayou Gardens tenants who want one. The brackets will allow flags to look neat and uniform and be hung in a respectable manner.
"They can supply the flag and we will gladly install a bracket," said Truax.
That’s not all Truax and his son, Dalton III, who takes care of the complex, have planned to rectify last week’s flag mishap with the Witts.
The apartment owners are planning a formal flag-raising ceremony sometime in the next two weeks that will mark the debut of a 25-foot staff and appropriate-sized banner in the Bayou Gardens’ landscape. Truax said he hopes to install the landmark in a grassy area, perhaps near the pool.
The larger banner’s appearance in the apartment complex behind Southland Mall will be marked with speeches from local veterans’ groups, a discussion about how to properly display an outdoor flag and maybe a visit from area politicians.
"We will have a formal flag program now for the whole complex so that anybody who wants to put up a flag will know and there will be no confusion about it," said Truax, of Wagner and Truax Real Estate Management in Metairie.
The event, said Truax, is a gesture of good will toward the Witts, whom he said he never intended to hurt by asking them to remove their curbside flag two weeks ago.
"We’re thinking that this should, I think, bring the community together," said Truax. "We’ve been down here for 30 years and we’ve been very much a part of this community for a long time. We certainly want everybody to feel good about us, to feel that we are good citizens, that we care about this community and we want to make people comfortable having us here."
Truax said the incident with the flag was a misunderstanding between the Witts and apartment officials. He said the situation got out of hand and developed into an issue about patriotism that was never intended.
All along, Truax said he only wanted the Witts to fly a smaller banner outside their apartment door. That information was not translated correctly to the couple, and that is unfortunate, said Truax.
"It did get out of hand and became something it wasn’t, but now we’re hoping to move on and make the situation better," he said.
Glynna Witt said she was pleased to have the dilemma resolved.
She said her husband planned to thank Michael Fe’si Sr., who last week offered the couple a free apartment to live in for a year, for his generosity. But she said she and her husband are content to stay in their Bayou Gardens home now with no fear of eviction looming over their heads.
"We’re glad that he’s letting us have the flag, that’s what we wanted. I’m glad he’s aware," said Witt. "That’s what the bottom line was, I wanted to be able to fly my flag. We didn’t want anything else from that but to fly our flag."
Senior staff writer Kimberly Solet can be reached at 857-2209 or [email protected].
Houma family will keep its flag
By KIMBERLY SOLET
Senior Staff Writer
HOUMA -- The saga of the Houma parents asked to remove their American flag came to an amicable ending this week.
The owners of the Bayou Gardens apartment complex met with Glynna and Gary Witt on Sunday to apologize for the misunderstanding.
Then they offered to install for the Witts, whose son, Brian, is a Navy medic serving in Iraq, a bracket for their flag.
The device will be fixed about a foot and a half away from the couple’s front door. It will be about 6 feet off the ground and large enough to hold a standard 3-by-5-foot banner.
Dalton Truax Jr., who owns the west-Houma apartments, said maintenance workers also would install for free flag brackets for any other Bayou Gardens tenants who want one. The brackets will allow flags to look neat and uniform and be hung in a respectable manner.
"They can supply the flag and we will gladly install a bracket," said Truax.
That’s not all Truax and his son, Dalton III, who takes care of the complex, have planned to rectify last week’s flag mishap with the Witts.
The apartment owners are planning a formal flag-raising ceremony sometime in the next two weeks that will mark the debut of a 25-foot staff and appropriate-sized banner in the Bayou Gardens’ landscape. Truax said he hopes to install the landmark in a grassy area, perhaps near the pool.
The larger banner’s appearance in the apartment complex behind Southland Mall will be marked with speeches from local veterans’ groups, a discussion about how to properly display an outdoor flag and maybe a visit from area politicians.
"We will have a formal flag program now for the whole complex so that anybody who wants to put up a flag will know and there will be no confusion about it," said Truax, of Wagner and Truax Real Estate Management in Metairie.
The event, said Truax, is a gesture of good will toward the Witts, whom he said he never intended to hurt by asking them to remove their curbside flag two weeks ago.
"We’re thinking that this should, I think, bring the community together," said Truax. "We’ve been down here for 30 years and we’ve been very much a part of this community for a long time. We certainly want everybody to feel good about us, to feel that we are good citizens, that we care about this community and we want to make people comfortable having us here."
Truax said the incident with the flag was a misunderstanding between the Witts and apartment officials. He said the situation got out of hand and developed into an issue about patriotism that was never intended.
All along, Truax said he only wanted the Witts to fly a smaller banner outside their apartment door. That information was not translated correctly to the couple, and that is unfortunate, said Truax.
"It did get out of hand and became something it wasn’t, but now we’re hoping to move on and make the situation better," he said.
Glynna Witt said she was pleased to have the dilemma resolved.
She said her husband planned to thank Michael Fe’si Sr., who last week offered the couple a free apartment to live in for a year, for his generosity. But she said she and her husband are content to stay in their Bayou Gardens home now with no fear of eviction looming over their heads.
"We’re glad that he’s letting us have the flag, that’s what we wanted. I’m glad he’s aware," said Witt. "That’s what the bottom line was, I wanted to be able to fly my flag. We didn’t want anything else from that but to fly our flag."
Senior staff writer Kimberly Solet can be reached at 857-2209 or [email protected].