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December 30, 2009
Old Glory inverted atop Ratner mall
Park Slope Courier
by Gary Buiso
In Ratnerville, up is down, private is public (is private), and wrong is right.
Keen-eyed last minute holiday shoppers may have thought something was awry on Dec. 24 if they looked at the state of Old Glory flying atop the Atlantic Terminal Mall. The flag was being flown upside down — a signal of dire distress. Was this a not-so-subtle comment on the state of the retail sector?
Joyce Baumgarten, a spokesperson for mall owner Forest City Ratner Companies, set the record straight, chalking up the topsy-turvy affair to an “honesthuman error.”She said it was only in the upside down position for a scant 20 minutes — just long enough for our eagle-eyed shutterbug to snap the flag’s sorry state.
According to the United States Flag Code, a set of advisory rules, the flag is flown upside down as a distress signal.
Posted by eric at December 30, 2009 9:49 PM