This article is about James Sereigo-Wareing, founder of New England Caring for our MIlitary. These displays are another way he shows support and pays tribute to our troops but they are not part of NECFOM.

MassHighway:Overpass displays OK By Jason Tait Eagle-Tribune — METHUEN -

The state Highway Department will allow flags and banners on interstate overpasses, as long as the patriotic displays are safely secured to the interior of fences. This is a reversal of its recent policy of removing all flags and banners from bridges. MassHighway spokesman Jon Carlisle said the apparent ban on flags and banners was a "miscommunication." "What we are doing is allowing a lion's share of banners and flags on bridges," Carlisle said yesterday. Flags and banners attached to the outside of overpass barriers will be removed for safety reasons. The concern is that the items will fall onto the windshields of moving vehicles below. "You can imagine the impact of that," Carlisle said. Anything secured to the bridge on the inside of the barrier fences can remain. MassHighway crews have recently stripped flags and banners from bridges in Malden that were put there by Methuen resident James Wareing. After seeing that his displays were removed, Wareing contacted MassHighway officials, who told him about the apparent ban. Wareing said MassHighway agreed to let him remove the flags and military banners from the remaining bridges he decorates, including the Carl Woekel Memorial Bridge on Howe Street over Route 213. That job is done. "If they are trying to say they were not trying to do the inside flags, then why would they not take them all down?" asked Wareing, who is storing his flags in his backyard for now. Wareing likely will not put the flags back on the bridges, though he may continue to make banners for soldiers returning home, he said. Instead, his patriotic endeavor will be to run www.NECFOM.com, a nonprofit organization that sends care packages to soldiers overseas. "I said in the beginning that if the bridges ever became controversial, that I would cease doing them," he said. "It takes the whole meaning away. It's really sad it's come down to this." Linda Noone of Reading attached several banners and flags on the inside of a fence on the Route 129 overpass over Interstate 93, but MassHighway took them down anyway, she said. When she saw that they were gone she said she was "heartbroken." Noone, whose daughter is a Marine and ships out to Iraq in March, will hold off on attaching anything more to the bridge until she receives official permission from MassHighway. "I was told that absolutely nothing can go up on the bridge," she said. Carlisle said MassHighway does not monitor banners or signs for their messages. Some are birthday wishes and political statements. He said the overall policy is being reviewed. Policy MassHighway allows banners and flags to be attached to highway overpasses: Permitted: Any banner or flag secured to the inside of fences on bridges Banned: Banners or flags attached to the outside of fences or on poles extended above the fencing.

Jason Tait-Eagle Tribune
hit Counter