Commissioner condems US flag pin policy

The Historic City News editorial desk received a letter from St. Johns County Commissioner Mark P. Miner; responding to the news that a 26-year-old front desk supervisor at the Casa Monica Hotel was sent home from work yesterday because he would not remove an American flag lapel pin.

St. Augustine resident Sean May said that he has worn the US flag pin on the lapel of his jacket every day for the past two years; however, yesterday, he was told to take the pin off because “it violates company policy”.

May said the Casa Monica recently had a change in command at the corporate level and that they are trying to revamp the company’s image.

A spokesperson for the hotel released this statement, “Casa Monica has always had the personal appearance guidelines, and they are currently being enforced.”

Miner had another statement of his own:

“The Casa Monica Hotel and Kessler Enterprise certainly have the legal right to forbid their employees from wearing an American Flag pin. However, their inability to discern between the flag of our nation and other pins and buttons their policies forbid is of great concern to me.

St. Johns County is home to nearly 20,000 military veterans and is made up of an ideologically and culturally diverse population whose collective love for the United States is second to none.

I want to make clear that the actions taken by the Casa Monica Hotel and Kessler Enterprise do not represent the patriotism shared by St. Johns County residents and businesses.

I hope Kessler Enterprise will act quickly to correct the disrespect they have shown the flag of our great nation and end the embarrassment they have brought upon St. Johns County.”

Commissioner Mark P. Miner
County Commissioner, District 3
St. Johns County, Florida

Photo credits: © 2011 Historic City News staff photographer