The president of the Barrington United Veterans Council is making a hard push to have the Barrington Town Council adopt a non-political flag policy.

On Thursday morning, Jan. 28, Paul Dulchinos sent a series of emails to members of the town council. One email referenced Colorado’s new flag law; another featured an article about a Vermont town that will fly 22 different flags to satisfy people opposed to the town flying the Black Lives Matter flag; and one email had an article about a town in Oregon where officials were considering taking down the Black Lives Matter in an effort to deescalate threats of violence.

“Flying divisive political banners brings unwanted outside attention from radical elements from both sides of the political spectrum,” Mr. Dulchinos wrote to council members. “The Barrington UVC believes by adopting a non-political flag policy, our community is better protected from radicalism.”

The council is expected to hold a public hearing on a newly-proposed flag policy during its meeting on Monday night, Feb. 1. (A prior council endorsed the town manager’s decision to raise the Black Lives Matter flag on the town hall flag pole.)

The proposed ordinance would make flying a flag at the town hall flag pole an act of “government speech.” Barrington Town Council member Jacob Brier said the ordinance would eliminate the opportunity for residents to publicly request certain flags be flown at the town hall pole, which is located within the veterans memorial.

The proposed policy states: “Municipal flagpoles and flag-raising are forms of government speech. Accordingly, the Town, through the Town Council, has absolute and sole discretion to decide the content of any flag that is raised on a Town-owned flagpole, in order for the message conveyed to appropriately reflect the values of the Town.”

Mr. Brier said the policy mimics the town’s current approach to flag-flying.

Mr. Brier said the proposed policy would limit the ways a flag can gain approval to be flown on the town hall flag pole: The council could pass a resolution to fly a certain flag, or the town manager could raise a flag, as long as no member of the council individually objects.

Mr. Dulchinos said the proposed policy presents a significant problem.

“The Town Council cannot officially endorse one partisan political cause over all others,” Mr. Dulchinos wrote to the council members. “You must represent all of it's (sic) people not just cater to preferred politically correct segments of the population.”

Another Barrington resident, Mary Teixeira, also questioned the council’s proposed policy.

“The new ‘flag policy’ introduced this past week rubber stamps the position the council has taken since this began a year ago. Their solution is to create a first amendment pole overseen by them. That seems to be a bit of an oxymoron …... free speech only if you have their support?” she wrote in a letter to the editor.

Mr. Dulchinos also wrote a letter to the editor last week. It stated, in part “There are only three official flags that represent all the residents of this community. They are the American Flag, the Flag of the State of Rhode Island, and the Flag of the Town of Barrington. In addition, under federal law only the POW/MIA flag is mandated for display under the American Flag on federal properties.”

The Rhode Island Coalition for Israel (RICI), a statewide grassroots activist organization “of Christians and Jews who support Israel and fight anti-Semitism,” is supporting the actions of the Barrington United Veterans Council in its push for a non-political flag policy.

In a recent press release, Luann Pezzullo, an East Bay resident and RICI founding board member, said “The Black Lives Matter movement incites Jew-hatred. It promotes the blood libel that Israel is responsible for American police brutality against minorities. It pushes the lie that Israel is an apartheid state. It says that the Jewish people oppress people of color. Flying their flag is an attack on the the Jewish people.”

Mr. Brier disagreed with that statement.

“I am proudly Jewish and zionist and say that Black Lives Matter. Our flying the Black Lives Matter flag is not anti-semitic,” he said.

The public hearing for the proposed policy is expected to be discussed later in Monday night’s council meeting. The meeting is open to the public and will be shared on Zoom.