Town struggles over symbol

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine -- The yellow ribbons went up in the streets of this coastal town in March, fluttering from telephone poles and street signs. Two servicemen from South Portland had been killed in Iraq, and their grieving relatives and friends put up thousands of the yellow bands that have become the ubiquitous heralds of longing and loss in a nation at war.

Jolted by the deaths, city officials temporarily suspended a local ordinance that bans ribbons and posters from public property and utility poles. But the war in Iraq has transformed the yellow bows from a universal emblem of hope into a divisive symbol that some people say represents support for the conflict. Earlier this month, bowing to pressure from some residents who interpreted the ribbons as implicit support for the war, city maintenance crews began to remove the ribbons from the streets. The action has outraged other residents who say the move amounts to a show of disrespect for American troops.

The controversy has placed this quiet community of 24,700 people at the forefront of a highly politicized debate that resonates across the nation over what the ribbons represent.

To many South Portland residents, the yellow ribbons are "a sign of respect and support for all service personnel" serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Rose Worcester, who has adorned the storefront of her Broadway Variety store with elaborate yellow bows the size of dinner plates.

But to others, the ornaments were "a reminder that we were supporting the war," said James Gailey, the acting city manager who ordered the ribbons removed. He said city officials received "dozens of complaints" from residents who demanded that the bands be taken down.

For decades, yellow ribbons have represented hope for the return of loved ones. During the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-81, relatives of American hostages tied yellow ribbons to trees. Yellow bands adorned the yards of relatives of the troops who fought in the first Gulf War in 1991. But the war in Iraq has muddled the line between support for troops and support for the war, and the ribbons have become highly charged symbols.

Leaning forward from the couch in his studio, Calvin Muse, 46, an artist and one of South Portland's residents who have called and written city councilors, urging them to remove the ribbons, offered his interpretation of what yellow ribbons mean today.

"It's political speech, there's no doubt about it," Muse said. Then, in an exaggeratedly deep voice, he added, "I'll tell you one thing. If you don't like a yellow ribbon, you're not a good American. You're for the terrorists."

South Portland is not the first town wrangling over whether yellow ribbons show support for an increasingly unpopular war or the troops who are fighting it. In 2003, residents of Fieldsboro, N.J., protested that town's decision to ban the display on township property of yellow ribbons, which the mayor said expressed political views.

"There's a fine line there that's hazy for people," said Jared Higgins, 32, a former equipment operator from South Portland.

The controversy over yellow ribbons in South Portland dates back to 2003. At the time, Jason Swiger, a 2000 graduate of South Portland High School, deployed to Iraq for the first time, and his mother, Valorie, hung yellow ribbons in front of clapboard houses and strip mall storefronts. After a heated discussion over whether the ribbons symbolized support for the war or support for the troops, the City Council ordered Valorie Swiger to take down the bands and passed an ordinance banning ribbons and political signs from city property or utility poles.

On March 25, a suicide bomber killed Sergeant Jason Swiger, 24, while the soldier was handing out candy to Iraqi children in Baqouba, in eastern Iraq. Twelve days earlier, Marine Lance Corporal Angel Rosa, 21, who graduated from South Portland High School in 2004, was killed in combat in Iraq's western Anbar Province. The day after Swiger's death, relatives, friends, and supporters of Swiger and Rosa hung up thousands of yellow ribbons all over the city from telephone poles, trees, cemetery gates, and street signs. The city decided to suspend the ordinance banning the ribbons for one month.

"We let city residents show their support as part of their grieving process," said Gailey.

But a month had passed, then two, then three, and South Portland residents who put up the ribbons refused to take them down.

City officials recently made an agreement with Valorie Swiger and her supporters that the ribbons be removed. In return, the city promised to help erect a permanent memorial commemorating the troops who fought in the wars in Iraq, Vietnam, and Korea.

"It is a kick in the face here of the residents that support the troops," said Roy Hopkins, 51, whose children went to school with Rosa.

"It bothers me to no end," said Kim Wood, 38, a retired Army private. "That's like coming out and saying: 'We don't support our troops.' "