December 23rd, 2019 by WCBC Radio
A decision by the county executive in Montgomery County Maryland to ban a police station from displaying a "thin blue line" flag last month drew strong criticism from Governor Larry Hogan and made national headlines. Locally however there has been no such controversy. The wooden flag was a gift from a local resident in recognition of National First Responders Day and was to be displayed in the 5th District Station. News outlets report that Democratic Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said the flag provides a symbol of "support" to some, but is a symbol of "dismissiveness" to others. The "thin blue line" flag has been labeled by some as a response to the Black Lives Matter movement. Since the story broke there has been some backlash. Allegany County Sheriff Craig Robertson said he was contacted immediately after the incident with a number of people volunteering to donate “thin blue line” flags to be displayed locally. The sheriff presented one of those to the city of Cumberland during last week’s meeting…
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