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Yellow ribbons, a symbol supporting U.S. troops, are becoming the center of a free-speech debate in Litchfield, Connecticut.
The ribbons, removed on Thursday, have been wrapped around trees on the historic Litchfield Town Green since 2003, during the start of U.S. involvement in Iraq.
However, the Litchfield Board of Burgesses and acting Warden Gayle Carr decided in December to renew enforcing an ordinance from the early 1700s banning placards and other displays of free speech on the green.
"When it comes to a public space like that, if you allow some speech you have to allow all speech," Carr said in a phone interview with the Associated Press. "But under the (borough) code we are allowed to say no speech, and that doesn't discriminate against anybody."
Leslie Caron, whose son is in the Air Force, spoke to Newsweek on the phone and said a previous set of Litchfield burgesses banned the yellow ribbons on the green. However, after opposition and national coverage, the officials allowed five ribbons representing the five branches of the military, as long as they were maintained.
"No one ever questioned the ribbons, then this past August, they were removed. We don't know who removed them, but we replaced them."
Caron and her husband, Val Caron, said the ribbons were never seen as a problem. Then, this past December, the burgesses brought in a lawyer who said the ribbons were now a sign of free speech.
"All of a sudden, our yellow ribbons became a sign because they have a meaning to people. They decided they weren't ribbons; they were signs. They were concerned about people coming up to Litchfield with signs," Val Caron said.
Carr, who spoke to WVIT-TV in December, said the ordinance had an extension while the country was at war. She added the green didn't want to discriminate who could and couldn't display ribbons.
Yellow ribbons have symbolized soldiers fighting in combat for years, really beginning with the 1973 hit song "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree." There are earlier references to yellow ribbons, however, some dating back to the Civil War. However, yellow ribbons were also the center of a controversy in Washington state, when the La Center City Council voted 3 to 2 down a resolution that would prohibit free speech expression on city infrastructure. Yellow ribbons had been displayed on a city bridge since 2005 to support the U.S. Armed Forces serving in the Middle East.
Leslie Caron said she wrote two letters to the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission regarding how the board runs, saying no one was allowed to speak at the previous meeting and she will continue fighting for the ribbons to be on the green.
"The ribbons were replaced because they are to honor our military. People drive by the town and they see the ribbons.… we are honoring our military 365 days a year," Leslie Caron said.
