|
More info
Gingrich backs Calif. teens in flag flap
Santa Rosa, CA, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- California teens defying a high school's ban on flags in class photos got a boost from Newt Gingrich, the Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat said Monday.
Gingrich, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, met with 10 seniors from Sonoma Valley High School, where two students have been suspended after refusing to surrender American flags during the class photo session. A third faces the same fate.
"It's such an amazing story and so out of sync with what's going on in the rest of the country," Gingrich said during a 30-minute meeting.
The students said officials told them the class picture wouldn't be sold, and none would be taken next year.
"Anti-flag control. That's fairly Looney Tunes," Gingrich said. "In the middle of a war the idea that you'd say 'no' to students about the American flag is strange, to say the least."
School Superintendent Kim Jamieson denies the students' allegation that the ban on flags was imposed in response to the appearance of a Mexican flag in last year's senior photo. He said the school simply wanted a photo without props after four years of students displaying flags.
|