Yarmouth Town Council, October 15, 2026 · Agenda Item 33
An Eagle Scout offered Yarmouth 32 American flags for Main Street, paid for out of his own fundraising. Town Council Chair David Craig’s reaction was to wonder what the flags were “trying to say.”
“What are you trying to prove?”
At 1:54:05 (meeting video), Craig compared towns with lots of flags to car dealerships: “when I drive through some towns that have hundreds of flags up and they’re up all the time… I’m kind of like, well, what are you trying to prove?… you go by some car dealership and they’re trying to fly the biggest possible flag… What are you trying to say here?… it’s not just patriotism. There’s something else.”
Something else? It’s the American flag, Mr. Chair.
Too many flags, wrong colors
- “To me, it felt 32 was like a little high.” (1:53:19)
- On the red, white and blue bracket bases: “that’s great when you’re flying a flag, but it’s kind of weird when you’re flying the snowflake for the Merry and Bright committee.” (1:53:30)
- He wanted the flags flown only on Memorial Day weekend, the 4th of July, Flag Day and Veterans Day, and then taken down. (1:55:29)
- “I couldn’t support it personally at this point.” (1:56:45)
To be fair, Craig said his concern was “scope,” not “whether flags are a good idea or a bad idea” (1:52:51). Cost wasn’t the issue either, since Ian Ferguson was raising the money himself. And in the end, after two hours and 25 minutes, Craig voted yes with the rest of the council, 7–0 (2:16:31).
Why he’s a Useful Idiot
A teenager did everything right: he raised the money, cleared it with the planning department, and offered to change the colors and cut the number of flags. The chair of the council still spent the night treating America’s flag like a car-lot gimmick that needed a reason to exist. That’s how a 10-minute yes becomes a two-hour debate, and how Yarmouth’s leaders send the message that patriotism is something to be managed.
Read the full story: An Eagle Scout, 32 Flags, and a Two-Hour Debate.
Quotes are from the meeting’s auto-captions on the official Town video, with timestamps linked above.