Please respect and fly the flag. How fortunate we are to be in the USA.

Rave: To the great July 4th celebration at Fort Worden. Thank you!

To citizens and businesses who displayed our country's flag – thank you for your patriotism.

Rant: To the lack of participation in the Independence Day celebration by the Main Street business. On Memorial Day I noticed that the larger establishments were not “flying the flag.”

So I purchased each a flag, the Quimper Mercantile Co. and Wooden Boat Chandlery, and asked if they would “fly the flag” on the Fourth.

Neither did. Apparently they were not interested.

Oh well, I tried.

LILLIAN TILLER

Port Townsend

The Leader asked Quimper Mercantile and the Wooden Boat Chandlery to respond:

Sheldon Spencer, manager of Quimper Mercantile, wrote:

“It's great to live in a community where folks are so committed to issues that matter to them. In fact, we put up the large flag that Lillian gave us the next day. It's been flying since, but it's indoors by our sales counter (which is probably why she didn't see it).” Spencer also noted that the store stocks two models of flags and that it took about 18 months to sell the first batch, so the flags weren't reordered.

Alicia C. Witham, COO of the Northwest Maritime Center, wrote: “We have had a change in leadership in the Chandlery this season, and I believe the flag request was simply not communicated well through this transition. Moving forward, it is a decision for the Chandlery manager to make as to fly the flag or not.”