Soldiers' Yellow Ribbons Ripped off Bridge

I have posted a story that appeared in CNEWS today. I had tied up many yellow ribbons in honour of a local soldier deploying. I had decided to tie a big beautiful yellow bow prominently on the flagpole holding the Canadian flag. It was gone the next day. I then found that 90 % of the ribbons missing went by the end of the week. I had caught someone pulling one off one evening. Questioning her, I asked her if she knew what the yellow ribbons were for. I asked her to help me put it back up. She then told me she had been taking it off because her Dad wanted one. I told her to tell her Dad if he would like one, to talk to me the next day and that I would make one for him. I never heard from either person. (and I replaced the ribbons)

~ SOT (Support Our Troops)

Read the story below, and let me know what your thoughts are:

Soldiers' Yellow Ribbons Ripped off Bridge
By ANDREA HOUSTON, QMI Agency
PETERBOROUGH, Ont. — The organizer of the local Yellow Ribbon Campaign says she was disgusted to discover more than 100 yellow ribbons, each representing a different Canadian fallen soldier, has been ripped off the Buckhorn Bridge this week.

“That’s like knocking over a tombstone,” Darlene Loucks said. She had driven to the bridge Tuesday and found about 17 tattered yellow ribbons on the ground.

Loucks, who brought the remaining ribbons to Wednesday night’s Military Family Support Network meeting, questioned the compassion of anyone who would do such a thing.

“It’s not nice. Pathetic. No conscience,” she said.

The yellow ribbons were tied to Buckhorn Bridge June 25, meant as a silent tribute to the 150 Canadian soldiers who have lost their lives while serving in Afghanistan.

Each ribbon had the name of a fallen soldier written in black.

Kathy Bulger, the mother of Cpl. Nicholas Bulger who was killed in Afghanistan on July 3, 2009, said seeing the remaining ribbons made her sad and angry.

“It’s possible they didn’t know what the yellow ribbons meant, but I doubt it,” she said. “It’s just terrible.”

Let Our Yellow Ribbons Flutter... for Our Soldiers

I was saddened when I read this story about mothers who have been busy creating and hanging yellow ribbons in honour of our soldiers only to find them taken or cut down. I know I personally have been a victim of such a heinous act. My yellow ribbon (that hung in honour of my son and his Battle Group) was cut right off of the big tree at the front of my home. However, it was nice that a neighbour found my big ribbon - not to return it.. oh no.. but to cut it into pieces and tied it onto a line over his newly seeded lawn to scare birds away. Imagine that! Thank you nice supportive neighbour.
It seems like just yesterday that I had started a yellow ribbon hanging campaign of various cities (to which many Mayors gladly honoured our troops by doing so - thank you :) Let's do it again.

I posted the story of the moms below. Read on.
Symbolic Yellow Ribbons Cut Down
CambridgeTimes.ca and Hamilton Mountain News
By Melissa Hancock
Jun 19, 2008
Yellow ribbons hung in the downtown area of Galt to signify the safe return home of Canadian soldiers were cut down in what some are assuming was a hasty act of objection to the war in Afghanistan.
"My first reaction was anger," said Cambridge resident Bob Stebbings, a retired military warrant officer. "My second reaction was sadness."
Mothers from a military family support group, which includes members from Cambridge and surrounding cities and towns, tied about 40 of the symbolic yellow ribbons around trees and light posts late last month in preparation for the later summer deployment of about 2,500 soldiers. Days later, one of the mothers found several ribbons in a garbage can on a sidewalk near Ainslie and Main streets.
"I was just flabbergasted," said Sharon Coulson, whose son will be among those deployed in a few months. "Somebody went around and cut them down."
As she ran errands near the Ainslie and Main streets area a couple of weeks ago, Coulson spotted several of the snipped yellow ribbons sitting in a shopping cart that was being pushed by a homeless man.
Coulson approached the man and asked where he'd acquired the yellow ribbons. He found them in the garbage, she said, and was hoping to sell them.
"I was asking myself all kinds of questions," she told the Times.
Coulson wondered: did a city worker take down the ribbons without knowing they were allowed to be up? Did the man with the shopping cart cut them down himself? Or did someone who doesn't agree with the war in Afghanistan cut them down?
"This has got nothing to do with the war," she noted about the ribbons. "It's not just for one, two or three - it's for every soldier out there."
She said she believed the man with the cart and walked over to the area where he said he'd found the ribbons. That's where she found more cut in half and sitting on top of the trash.
"That's a slap in the face to my son as a soldier," charged Coulson. "I was so upset."
The man gave back the ribbons to Coulson and she later continued to search for more that were discarded. After glancing up and down the streets where the ribbons were hung, she could tell how many were left just by looking. About a dozen remained out of the 40 that went up. But Coulson didn't look for long.
"I was just so upset; I couldn't look in the garbage anymore."
Stebbings said he thinks the public needs to be more aware of all that goes on overseas. Stories need to be heard of Canadian soldiers who have helped women in Afghanistan start their own businesses, he said.
"I'm a little disappointed that our government isn't explaining more of what's going on there."
However, the yellow ribbon signifies the safe return of Canada's men and women and it does not signify support of the war or have any political bearing, Stebbings added.
His wife, Andrea Stebbings - who is the executive director of the Downtown Cambridge Business Improvement Association - shares a similar reaction to what happened.
"I was stunned," said Andrea. "We all know what that ribbon represents."
The executive director, who was downtown at the armoury on Valour Place last month when the military support group mothers hung their ribbons, said it was most likely the act of someone who disagrees with the war.
"There's no politics in this yellow ribbon," she said. "It's a little yellow ribbon that carries so much meaning."
More ribbons have been hung up and there are still more to come, said Andrea. And if more are cut down, others will go right back up.
"Even if we have to climb higher up the pole."

Come on! Let's ALL hang a yellow ribbon in honour of our soldiers!

Let's do it for our troops! Hang a flag - hang a yellow ribbon!

.. and ... Don't forget your yellow ribbon magnet for your car!

Toronto Taking Yellow Ribbons off Fire Trucks, Ambulances

Tuesday, June 19, 2007 Ottawa Citizen
Despite complaints the move is an insult to Canadian soldiers, Toronto's mayor is backing plans to remove "Support our Troops" decals from fire trucks and ambulances, saying they could be construed as a city endorsement of the war in Afghanistan.
Mayor David Miller said Tuesday the decals will be removed beginning in September, a year after they were first added to the back of about 170 fire trucks and 175 ambulances.
"The program was always scheduled to last for a year," said Miller. "It will be wrapped up this fall."
But Katherine Hodgson-McMahon, executive director of the Toronto Military Family Resource Centre, called the decision "a bit of a slap in the face," for the families of Canadian soldiers.
Miller said the ribbons were controversial as the city had "received a number of calls from people who were concerned about the city expressing an opinion on the war."
Hodgson-McMahon said the ribbons are an important symbol to people with family members serving in Afghanistan.
"You can support the troops without supporting the mission," she said. "It is all about bringing your soldiers home safely. Family members tell me that when they are driving on the road and see a yellow ribbon, they say yay, someone believes in my kid.'"
Frances Nunziata, a Toronto councillor, has asked council to vote as early as Wednesday to keep the decals until the end of Canada's deployment to Afghanistan. "Leave the ribbons on. I think it's the worst thing our city has ever done," she said.
If Nunziata's motion wins the two-thirds vote necessary to make it to the council floor, it could drag Canada's largest city into a debate on the war.
There are no officially approved decals of any kind on fire vehicles in Vancouver or Calgary.
Halifax, has approved an official diversity logo and one supporting muscular dystrophy research, which are affixed to its fire trucks.
Ottawa, however, has yellow "Support Our Troops" ribbons on the back of its fire trucks. The decals were slapped on last year and have remained on Ottawa fire vehicles without complaint, city spokesman Barre Campbell said.
Bob Butt, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Legion, said it is up to a municipality to decide what to put on its vehicles. "It's their decision."

Note: The Toronto Fire department has supported our troops overseas. Recently, they donated $3000 in Tim Hortons Gift Certificates to our troops. A big HUA for Toronto's fire department!

Let your voice be heard. Send your opinion regarding removal of "Support Our Troops" to the mayor of Toronto:

By E-mail: mailto:mayor_miller@toronto.ca
or
By Mail:

Mayor David Miller, Toronto City Hall,
2nd Floor,
100 Queen St. West,
Toronto ON M5H 2N2