It has come to the attention of many Bemidji citizens that the Bemidji City Council is discussing the flags that are or should be present in the Bemidji City Council Chambers. Presently the United States flag, the Minnesota state flag and the city of Bemidji flags are placed in the City Council Chambers.
The question is, should there be others? To answer that one should consider, what is the purpose of having flags represented in the seat of government? The purpose is to define the jurisdiction with which the city council does its business.
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The flags symbolize those jurisdictions: the United States, the state of Minnesota and the city of Bemidji. Or should the flags present in City Hall represent the heritage of the people that have and currently live in the city? That could be unwieldy given that there are people living within the boundaries of the city of Bemidji from tens of possibly hundreds of countries, groups, localities, etc.
I support the city council members who want to display only those flags in the City Council Chambers that represent the jurisdictional authority under which the council must conduct its business.
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