Pickens County, S.C. Sheriff Rick Clark said this weekend he was ready to be done with the flap he created by refusing to lower his office’s flags in honor of late South African leader Nelson Mandela.
Clark appears to have deleted a Facebook post in which he said he would refuse an order from President Obama that flags be lowered. In its place, hewrote a new post referencing widespread media coverage of his refusal and advising people to “read about President Mandela.”
“Well the news/Facebook cycle has run its course,” Clark wrote in his post on Saturday. “Time to move onto the next subject because I have work to do for my community and need to devote my time elsewhere. Thank you for your support and comments. I urge you to read about President Mandela over the next few days of mourning and be inspired for public service for your community and the nation as he was. It Pearl Harbor Day and thank a veteran today if you can.”
The sheriff’s original posting on Friday said he was refusing an order from President Obama that flags be lowered because the late South African leader “did great things for his country and was a brave man but he was not an AMERICAN!!!”
In a subsequent interview with local television station WHNS, Clark said, “It’s just my simple opinion that the flag should only be lowered to half-staff for Americans who sacrificed for their country.”
It was unclear, however, whether Clark had decided to lower the flags after all.
