METHUEN — The personalized welcome home displays on highway overpasses supporting troops would be replaced with metal signs along major interstates, members of a gubernatorial task force said.
MassHighway is close to a plan that would ban displays hanging from state bridges and overpasses, putting an end to the 6-year effort by Jim Wareing of Methuen to honor returning soldiers with banners and American flags. MassHighway said the displays are potential safety hazards.
The plan was presented last week to a task force convened by Gov. Deval Patrick in response to criticism about the state's announcement in December to remove the flags. The task force includes veterans agents, state legislators, and veterans organizations and was to review recommended alternatives to the overpass displays.
A MassHighway spokesman yesterday would not comment on the plan because it is not yet complete.
"We're making progress on the plan. We have nothing to announce right now," said spokesman Adam Hurtubise.
The state will announce a proposal that is less personal than the handwritten banners and flags, task force members told The Eagle-Tribune.
Instead of flags, MassHighway will install permanent signs along highways entering Massachusetts that read "Welcome Home" troops. In other places, signs that say "Thank you" and are adorned with the seals of the military branches would be posted. The state has not determined exactly where to put the signs.
"MassHighway is trying to fix something that's not broken," said Methuen's state Rep. Linda Dean Campbell. "I don't see a need (for the ban) at this time."
State Rep. Anthony Verga, D-Gloucester, chairman of the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs, said he's asked MassHighway to collect more public input from soldiers' families before finalizing a plan to remove the flags.
"The state needs to ensure families that they can personally recognize the service of their loved ones," Verga said. "(The signs) are not bad alternatives. It's certainly less personal."
Also in the works is a plan to allow communities to welcome home soldiers personally by installing signs in public places, as requested through local veterans agents.
"It's great that MassHighway is trying to create a safety policy," said Francisco Urena, Lawrence's veterans agent, who also is a member of the task force. "But it seems people are not adapting to the signs. They'll have to be as good as these flags on bridges. I love (the flags). They look great. People have told me how much the flags mean to them."
According to several people who attended the task force meeting last week, the highway officials are planning to come up with a respectful way to take down flags on the bridges, like Wareing's popular display along the Carl Woekel Memorial Bridge on Howe Street to honor missing Lawrence soldier Alex Jimenez.
Wareing has no plans to remove his flags from the Methuen bridge or from a bridge over Interstate 495 in Chelmsford. The Howe Street bridge provides hope to Alex's father, Andy Jimenez of Lawrence, that his son may return home safe someday.
"You can't let him lose that hope," Wareing said. "(The flags) are what makes them feel good. MassHighway is not sensitive to what the military and their families go through."
Wareing said he supports the alternatives as an addition to the flags.
"I don't feel you could ever do enough for the soldiers," Wareing said.
MassHighway has been pushing for the flags to come down for more than a year, citing safety issues. After a public outcry, both in 2006 and 2007, MassHighway backed off its plan to remove the flags. At that time, a spokesman said unsecured signs or banners could fall on passing cars or distract motorists.
Wareing has been fighting for his banners for two years. While he once had dozens of decorated sites across the state, he now maintains just two as part of his work through his nonprofit organization, New England Caring for Our Military.
If the state follows through with the flag ban, Wareing plans to bring together supporters, veterans and their families to contact the governor's office and state and protest at the decorated bridges. He'll also plan a letter writing campaign and other actions, through his Web site, www.bridges4troops.com.
