Reader Responds -- Merry Shelburne

I did not agree with the effort to recall Mayor Gomez, nor do I

personally know anyone who did.

However, Harut Sassounian needs to understand that lowering the

American flag to commemorate non-American events on non-American soil is

not just ‘... an ambiguous protocol offense ...’ (“Important victory for

the Armenian community,” Jan. 11).

We native-born Americans take our flag very seriously. Just because

the silent majority did not support the recall effort does not mean we

support lowering the American flag for non-American events.

Nor do we support building a non-American memorial on city property.

There are no official memorials, and no official flag-lowerings, for the

Crusades, the Holocaust or all the other genocides that took place long

ago and far away. There’s no memorial honoring my Irish ancestors who

died at the hands of the British. Why? Because this is America. And

America is supposed to be about new beginnings, not rehashing ancient

hatreds.

Build your memorial on private property.

MERRY SHELBURNE

La Crescenta