![Denali National Park]()
Last time I checked, we live in the United States of America.
Alaska might not be directly connected to the lower 48 states, but it still should share the same patriotism and pride in being a part of the greatest country in the world. Brooke Merrell, the superintendent at Denali National Park, must have somehow overlooked (or forgotten) that.
According to construction workers who have been working on a 457-foot-long bridge within the national park, they were recently told that they had to cease flying the Red, White and Blue (don't you dare tell me to not capitalize those colors). The $207 million bridge, funded by the Federal Highway Administration, is being built after a rock slide took out out a part of the road in the park that was vital to tourist navigation.
Construction started back in 2023, and in the beginning of this year, a heavy piece of machinery and two different mobiles trucks erected some standard-sized American flags. If you are working on a national park, might as well fly the colors of that nation, am I right?
Well... according to Superintendent Merrell, it is actually the exact
opposite. She apparently contacted the construction crew working on the bridge build (Granite Construction) and asked them to stop flying the flag because it was a distraction and a detraction from the "park experience" for guests.
One of the contractors spoke to the
Alaska Watchman about the details of the request from Merrell, saying:
"The trucks are flying these American flags, about a foot atop the trucks, about three-foot by four-foot flags, and they said they don’t want this. They’re saying it isn’t conducive and it doesn’t fit the park experience."
Yeah, I can't
imagine going to a national park in the United States and seeing an American flag flying (sarcasm there in case you couldn't tell).
The contractor didn't stop there. He continued to go scorched Earth on Denali National Park's superintendent by stating that in his humble, American opinion, there shouldn't be a problem flying the Red, White and Blue in a park that's underneath the U.S.A.'s national park system:
"Here I am in a national park, and we’re being told we can’t fly the American flag. I understand there are rules for contractors working in the national parks, but you wouldn’t think flying the American flag would be part of those rules."
And to make things even more puzzling, the stations within Denali National Park all fly their own American flags. So is it a matter of the superintendent thinking there are too many? If that's the case, Brooke Merrell, let me say something to you loud and clear:
There's no such thing as too many American flags.
Cue it up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KoXt9pZLGM&pp=ygURZ29kIGJsZXNzIHRoZSB1c2E%3D
