For those of us in North Carolina, we've had to deal with nearly a week of honoring and praising Jesse Helms. But one guy took a pass and, in the process, lost his job. More after the jump.
Governor Mike Easley ordered all flags lowered to half staff to mourn Jesse Helms, but L.F. Eason III (a state employee) instructed his employees to keep the flags flying at full. His reason?:
"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.
This decision got Eason in trouble with his superiors who ordered the flags to be flown at half staff. Rather than fly them at half staff, Eason quit his job.
All I can say is good for him for standing up for his own convictions on this one. Yesterday, they blocked traffic and closed our major highways in the "name" of an unapologetic segregationist.