National Park Service, in careful statement, denies claim that superintendent banned American flag from bridge workers’ vehicles

By
Suzanne Downing
-
91
12406

As drivers gather in Fairbanks and Big Lake, Alaska to convoy to the entrance of Denali National Park, the National Park Service has responded to the accusation that the superintendent at Denali National Park ordered construction workers to not fly the flag in the park.

The National Park Service’s statement in full:

“Reports that a National Park Service (NPS) official ordered the removal of an American flag from a Denali bridge construction worker’s vehicle at Denali National Park are false. At no time did an NPS official seek to ban the American flag from the project site or associated vehicles. The NPS neither administers the bridge project contract, nor has the authority to enforce terms or policies related to the contract or contractors performing the work. The American flag can be seen at various locations within Denali National Park – at park facilities and campsites, on public and private vehicles, and at employee residences – and we welcome its display this Memorial Day weekend and every day.”

The statement is carefully worded. The order to not fly the flag was reportedly not on the job site itself, which is under the purview of the Federal Highway Administration, but when vehicles went to and from the job site on the Park Road, which goes through the park from the Parks Highway. Must Read Alaska has verified the claim being made by construction workers, who stand by their version of the events.

Update from Sen. Dan Sullivan’s spokesman:

“Senator Sullivan stands by his letter. There is no law or regulation that he could conceive of that prohibits the flying of the American flag in an American national park. The fact remains that one of his constituents called the senator’s office because he was informed that he had to remove his 3 x 5 American flag after the National Park Service received a complaint about him flying the American flag on his truck. In a conversation this morning, between the Senator and the National Park Service Director, the director committed to providing more details to respond to the questions in the senator’s letter.

“Senator Sullivan also strongly recommended to the director that any Alaskans heading to the park today should be allowed to fly their flags in a safe and honorable way without incident.”

Earlier stories:

Alaskans with trucks, cars, and flags flying high are organizing a convoy to Denali National Park entrance
Stars and bars: Denali National Park staff called Alaska State Troopers for protection from American flag convoy
Look, up in the sky! It’s an American flag over Denali!
On blast: Sen. Sullivan takes Park Service to task for banning American flags on construction trucks in Denali National Park

91 COMMENTS

      • If you believe anything the NPS puts out, then you also believe Joe Biden is great for our country. Even hard Democrats won’t admit to this. Democrats HATE America. And Democrats run the NPS.

        • Democrats absolutely hate America. That’s why Obama and Biden vowed to fundamentally transform it. Democrats should also give reparations for slavery, Jim Crow, and planned parenthood.

  3. I remember when we posted signs reading “we prefer not to service park service employees” in front of most of the businesses in the Copper River Valley, when the peanut farmer President Carter took millions of acres and turned them into national preserves. Huge federal overreach on States claims and rights.

    The government is not your buddy.

    • President Teddy Rosevelt created more parks and preserves in Alaska than President Carter though I agree with you about the overreach.
      By the way, I fly Old Glory.

      • “………President Teddy Rosevelt created more parks and preserves in Alaska than President Carter……..”
        Your version of history is absolutely horrid for someone whose alleged roots go back here so far. Theodore Roosevelt created not a single national park or preserve in Alaska. He created, by executive order, seven “reserves” of extremely limited nature in Alaska, such as the Pribilof Reserve, which only prevented the taking of birds and to regulate the taking of fur bearing animals. Mt. McKinley National Park, the first national park in Alaska, was signed into law by President Wilson in 1917, eight years after the Teddy Roosevelt presidency was over. The first national preserve in American history wasn’t created until 1974.

        • Reggie; You are incorrect, Roosevelt created the Tongas, Chugach National Forests, and several Bird and game reserves. Carter named many Parks but on federal land.

          • President Theodore Roosevelt established the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve in Alaska in 1902 through a proclamation. In 1907, he created the Tongass National Forest with another proclamation. In 1908, the two areas were combined, and in 1909, Roosevelt added more islands and lands to the forest, making it 16.8 million acres and the largest national forest in the United States. Carter signed the Alaska National Interests Lands Conservation Act which passed both houses of Congress. A national forest is neither a park or a preserve.

            • National parks don’t allow hunting, national forests do, that’s about the only difference, limited logging in both, depends on who the president is and we’ve had many since Roosevelt and Carter. U.S. Presidents executive order’s have a very, very far reach 😉
              Lincoln, Eisenhower, Roosevelt and Carter had the biggest impacts on Alaska.

              • Overlooked in all these comments is Art. I, Sec. 8, Cl. 17, limiting federal properties to … DC and “forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards and other needful buildings.” Because these properties are “popular” does not mean that they are “constitutional”. Until Alaskans understand the generations of constitutional cheating that have impoverished us, we will get nowhere.

  4. Yes Suzanne, the statement is “carefully worded” just like every other public statement released by an agency. Mostly this is for accuracy but also for deliberative and sober public information. You don’t seem to have the same proclivities Suzanne and only care about starting a fire. Well, congrats, you did it.

      • So you would rather they didn’t respond to a false story and continue to have the superintendent threatened and harassed? Why don’t you smell some of what you’re shoveling?!

    • Wow.

      You are familiar with the term “accurate but misleading” now. Or should be if you were capable of independent thought.

      The NPS statement addressed something which wasn’t the issue, but would satisfy those who don’t or won’t pay close attention, or are just seeking comfort.

      So. The NPS statement? Accurate, but misleading. In other words, patently dishonest.

      What should concern you, or at least provide food for thought, is that there are so many Alaskans willing to believe the absolute worst about the federal government.

      I’m no Trumpist, not even a Republican, but I spent a career working closely alongside Federal authorities. I, for one, don’t trust them any further than I could toss a Mack truck.

      When a Federal PIO says “the sky above and the ground below”, I look up and then stomp my feet to verify.

  7. Too bad they didn’t video her telling them this. Of course she would lie about it…her job is on the line after stirring up this fuss! What possiblecreason would the construction workers have to lie about it?

    • So in other words, you’re bound and determined to be offended by a non-event.

      Will the knuckle draggers in their trucks now apologize for their reactionary convoy?

      • In other words, you’re caught trolling and and bound and determined to keep it going?

        Knuckle draggers? Why not say they are inbred products of white people?

      • Wow.

        Ask yourself why are you so willing to believe their version of events over that of anyone else’s?

        Seriously.

        Plus, frankly, the NPS statement is accurate but misleading. It doesn’t address the event reported.

        Then, a little common sense.

        Ask yourself: How does the construction company benefit by making this report? What do they gain?

        Nothing.

        Then ask yourself: What does the NPS gain by committing falsehood to the press?

        Much more. A superintendent’s job and smoothing over a political headache.

        Essentially, the construction company had nothing to gain by fabricating a story, but the NPS can reduce their loss by misleading the public.

        Common sense.

      • So, they’re “knuckle draggers”, are they, cman? Those “knuckle draggers built the house you live in and the roads you drive on. They built the buildings you work in, although you sound like someone who lives off of taxpayers, so you probably don’t work. Those knuckle draggers built the car you drive, or do you take the bus because you lost your driver’s license. And they built the electronics you use.

      • So, anybody who disagrees with you is a knuckle dragger? I seriously doubt you could figure out how to even shift a big rig.

  11. “……..Must Read Alaska has verified the claim being made by construction workers, who stand by their version of the events……….”
    Is this a “he said, she said” situation?

  12. Why is it the public servants employed as care takers of the citizens property feel compelled to act as if such assets belong to them? This becoming a growing issue with NPS and BLM. They are paid by the tax payers to be stewards of the land, not dictatorial tyrants.

  13. May God Bless the convoy and its organizers! Public service employees forget who pays them and who they work for. Many park service folk I’ve encountered last 4-5 years have a superiority complex.

    I’m proud to be part of a state where its citizens take their weekend and go show little miss Lewis and Clark that Alaskans will exercise their first amendment rights with a little muscle and some spicy, back at you sauce. I stand with the Granite Construction crew.

  15. Emblematic of every other Guv’ment Agency and NGO’s.
    … “Lying to cover up the TRUTH!”

    These Guv’ment Agencies & NGO’s are getting pretty good at it too.
    … WuHan Labs
    … Masks + 6-ft Rule
    … Mandatory Jabs & Boosters
    … Russian Dossier
    … Bidenomics
    … Toxic GMO’s in our Food Supply
    … Election Insecurity & Interference
    … Sterilization // Transification of our Kids
    … DEI being jammed down our throats
    … BlackRock, WHO, CDC, B-Gates, Fauci, Gavi (vaccine alliance), Soro’s
    … FISA Extension to the masses except for US Sen & Rep

    How many of these Guv’ment Agency Employees live amongst us, here in Anchorage as well as Alaska? Many of them are our neighbors, associates, friends, and/or family. Propagating these lies, many of them know of the cover up but stay silent, choosing to keep their jobs and retirement. HOWEVER, this only makes them complicit in this crime and helps to reiterate // reinforce similar behavior in the future.
    Naturally … It’s the fall, and failing, of man. However, it’s non-the-less SHAMEFUL!

    Never forget that the first step of forgiveness is admitting your wrongs, ‘before’ asking to be forgiven.

    • And you know they’re lying how, exactly? Why you’re pondering that, answer yourself this. No tourist buses are even going to the where the construction crews are working, so how would they even see any flags to complain about? Get a clue dude.

      • Answer this: since you want to dance pedantic, how do YOU know?

        Were you there? Were you the complainant? Unless provably yes to both, you are as guilty-more so, actually, of the crime you accuse others of.

      • The order to remove the flag was issued on the main park road. I’m sure there are “tour buses” on THAT road! Filled with the kind of “tourons” who wpuld have the effrontery to complain about American flags in an American national park.

      • No cman, the flag in question is ON a construction vehicle driving back an fort on the park road, which is the ONLY road into the park. So a vehicle displaying the flag can be seen by anyone. There are other American flags around and it seems interesting that this one is being singled out.
        I get it reading comprehension not your thing today

        • Oh, I’m sorry. Should we all just believe this contrived amorphous mass of nothing much? Do differing opinions scare you?

          • What makes it “contrived nothing”?

            It seems the main person here afraid of different opinions is you.

      • Cman, the complaint was made before tour buses started running, by someone in a private vehicle going through the park who saw the flag on the truck of a mechanic going back to the highway for equipment. Doesn’t really fit your narrative, but then hey, you put the “c” in cman.

    • National Park Service is where the flunk-out commies go for work. Too stupid to be commie leaders, but just woke enough to get a government job.

      • The Nation Park Service is full of uneducated, DEI climate kooks. Merrell is one of them. They may have liberal degrees, but complete idiots in the area of common sense. That’s why they have work waiting for them at the NPS.

    • Rob, that 6 foot rule we try to enforce has nothing to do with any pandemic or infectious disease! Most of us get uncomfortable when you’re within 72 inches of us. Its probably reflexive on an unconscious level somehow. Let us know how that drove up to Denali was today? With Memorial Day tomorrow it’s uplifting to see how todays “patriots” gets worked up over that flag story while ignoring the idea that roughly 20% of our fellow citizens have been led to believe that Russia and Hungary are role models for government. Abraham Lincoln would like his party back!

  16. The Park Service probably consulted with two known experts on lying and obfuscation, Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray, in constructing their statement. James Clapper and the Clintons may have been unavailable.

    While the facts may still be emerging, this incident highlights a problem: The consistent Left-bias of the National Park Service staff. Virtually all of these folks bring a NPR point-of-view to everything they do and despise anyone shopping at Walmart. Many do not see themselves as public servants but elevated masters over the lands that they are supposed to manage for the benefit of Americans. This stuff will only get worse.

    • JMARK. You have zero proof that NPS staff is left-leaning. Unless you mean that most of the staff, especially the interpretive section, knows details about flora and fauna and ecology and geology and glaciers that they share with the public. These interests are also shared with environmentalists. Maybe that’s your beef. Do you like wild land that produces berries and caribou? If you do, does that make you an environmentalist?

      • “………You have zero proof that NPS staff is left-leaning……….”
        LOL. Almost every hippie I knew in the 1960’s who was in college in California was studying to be “a ranger”. Remember the park superintendent of Katmai when Treadwell got himself eaten? She was a virtual clone of this Denali superintendent. Yeah, the kind of “proof” a lawyer clone demands probably isn’t available, but some of us stopped playing the lawyer games long ago.

      • My proof is from multiple personal experiences over many years and some professional exposure. I stand by my assessment. I was once told by a NPS staff member that no talking was allowed on the USS Arizona Memorial – which is complete crap. There is no such rule or regulation. I have witnessed on many occasions the elevation of John Muir to the status of a deity at national parks. (If you think about it – why should the draft-dodging Scotsman’s opinions count any more than those of any American’s?). Ever hear the multiple inaccuracies flowing from bus drivers (NPS contractors) at Denali? The jurisdictional over-reach of the NPS is legendary.

        I am not going to fall into the hole of responding to your strawman arguments. Show me a NPS employee that is not a Leftist and I will listen.

        • I was tut-tutted at the US Senate for rising two inches in my chair to identify a speaker. A few years later, I noticed Brett Kavanaugh’s beautiful pre-teen daughters getting screamed at as they entered the Senate. Not a tut-tut in sight.

  17. Is there cell phone coverage in the area where the employees of granite construction were told to take down there flags? Ping the phones to verify who may have been there from the NPS to verify if someone and who may have been there because that isn’t in their usual roam .

    • For the last time, the order was issued on the MAIN ROAD through the park, which is most definitely the “usual roam” of park employees, nowhere near the construction zone itself. “JMARK” nailed it…government employees in general, especially Biden appointees, are deeply infected with left-wing bias and the despicable “hate America ” theme of this entire corrupt, illegitimate administration

    • Dee, have you never heard of the Fourth Amendment?

      Nobody can “ping” somebody’s cell phone to see where they have been without a search warrant. Not even law enforcement agencies. To obtain a search warrant they have to appear before a judge and provide evidence to the judge of “reasonable and articulable suspicion that a crime has occurred.” What crime are you alleging has occurred in this instance?

      Dunno about you, but me, I value my Bill of Rights protections.

      Also, it is impossible to “ping” somebody’s phone and get a location unless the phone is in contact with at least two cell phone towers at that location, allowing for triangulation. Good luck with that anywhere along the Denali Park road.

  18. “or associated vehicles” meaning vehicles going to and from the work site. I, like thousands of motorcyclists, fly a small 🇺🇸 on the back of my bike. I see them all the time in Parks. Never heard of a problem.

  21. Dems are in desperation for complaints about conservative people! When they can’t find something to complain they make up a story.
    I’ve been hiking in the national park for nearly 27 years in the USA. I have never seen Park Ranger give anyone or me a hard time. They are always so helpful to everyone.
    So let’s be kind to Our park’s rangers, and thank them for their services..
    Anh Banbrook.

  22. I am interested to know who complained to the National Park Service that had the influence heavy enough to put this all into motion in the first place.

    That should be a matter of public record.

    • Trudy, it was one of the Left-wing wackos who is an employee of the NPS. They don’t like the US flag. These people are mentally ill. They are the ones who put this entire thing into motion. The contractors were just doing their job and proud to be working on American soil.

    • Don’t forget, Trudy…….it’s the NPS who took down all of the statues o famous Americans who helped forge the progress of our great country. The NPS is full of woke communists. Including the stupid lady at Denali NP.

    • A guess? The Superintendent has been looking for this opportunity for some time.

      This was first chance to give it a try.

  25. Fact-1: if the original order from the agency to cease displaying the flag was not in writing then it does not exist; it is merely a case of he-said-she-said and the current position of the bureaucracy must be accepted since is the only written relevant documentation. Fact-2: if the original order was indeed in writing then its contents are easily proven; we only need to read the order and then seek accountability.

  26. After Biden’s park service denied the service at Arlington National cemetery looks like Denali is not telling the truth.
    ‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95YWdPbM9hw

    • Veracity,

      I watched that video. The Colonel gave the military written instructions not to bury her anywhere, expressing her desire that her ashes be disposed off a cliff at Big Sur. The military is faithfully following her written order. The National Park Service is not involved; the US Army has jurisdiction over Arlington National Cemetery. Get your facts straight.

  27. A Congressional investigation is required to determine when and how an American Flag is to be flown, to include SCOTUS members

  28. The most telling thing in these threads is how vigorously the troll brigade came rushing out to defend and “debunk” this.

    Almost like they got a notification to do so.

      • Jeff, that’s because you are one of Joe Biden’s brainwashed flunkies. You went through the commie indoctrination academy and you passed. Congratulations.

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