A Villager became extremely frustrated last week after her patriotic feather flags suddenly disappeared from the entrance to the Village of Santo Domingo.
Jean Wix said she and her neighbors put up the 11-foot-tall patriotic decorations in honor of Pearl Harbor Day and she was quite shocked when they went missing.
At first, Wix thought the decorations had been stolen. But after talking to friends in another village, she found out that they had mostly likely been confiscated by the District because of a policy regarding the size of allowed feather flags and the need for approval for any decorations being put up at gates on approved holidays.
You can read the entire holiday decorating policy at this link: District Holiday Decoration Policy 2020
Wix said neither she nor her neighbors on a decorating committee were aware of the policy regarding feather flags and she was only able to figure out what happened when she spoke with friends in the Village of Hacienda South who also had their flags taken down. She was told that a man named Bill was responsible for taking down the flags and he told her friends he had the decorations from the entrance to Santo Domingo.
“I feel relief at having the flags back but I feel the process was not handled well,” Wix said.
Wix, whose late husband was a Marine, added that she was disappointed to learn that Pearl Harbor Day isn’t one of the approved holidays where decorations at the entrance to Villages neighborhoods are allowed.
“Pearl Harbor was momentous to our country,” she said. “Many lost fathers and brothers. Many had fathers, brothers and uncles who enlisted after that and lost their lives or at least were tremendously affected by the cruelty of that war. How can it not be a day of remembrance and patriotic symbolism?”
Wix added that her group recently put up their Christmas decorations at the entrance to her village but the entire experience has left a bad taste in her mouth.
“It’s not Florida’s Friendliness Hometown anymore,” she said. “My interest in the holiday season is gone.”