Our Opinion: County's split vote fractures unified show of respect

By the end of business Tuesday, a Cole County commissioner reversed his decision and the courthouse flag was lowered to half-staff.

The reversal was appropriate; sadly, if followed an errant split decision by the three-member county commission not to lower the county flag in response to a massacre that killed 49 people and injured dozens.

In the aftermath of the slaughter at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Jefferson City, Missouri and the United States governments complied with President Barack Obama's proclamation to lower flags to half-staff.

The county's governing body did not. Presiding Commissioner Sam Bushman favored lowering the flag; Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Hoelscher and Western District Commissioner Kris Scheperle initially did not.

The decision stirred up what Hoelscher referred to in a Tuesday Facebook post as "a hornets' nest."

In comments on social media and in letters to the editor in Wednesday's News Tribune, responses were divided. The criticism prompted Scheperle to reverse his decision Tuesday afternoon and the courthouse flag was lowered.

What we don't need right now is more divisiveness.

In the wake of the massacre, opinions are divided on political issues, including gun control; social issues, including tolerance for gay lifestyles; issues of religious freedom, limits on immigration and more.

On Tuesday, a divided community responded to a split commission decision in response to a tragic, divisive episode.

Don't get us wrong. We have no quarrel with divided votes by governing bodies. We respect elected officials who vote based on the sentiments of their constituents and the dictates of their conscience.

In this case, however, we believe a unified show of respect for the victims is appropriate.

Although Hoelscher said in a Facebook post - "My stance is that we can't lower it every time the wind blows" - the massacre was the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Scheperle's reversal was a wise correction of an errant decision that inevitably, and unnecessarily, sparked division.

On Wednesday's Opinion page, we included a guest editorial from the Orlando Sentinel, the newspaper of record for the city where the shooting occurred. Headlined "Time to heal," the editors wrote: "We will unite, in an affirming bond that is more mighty, and enduring, than the twisted thoughts of a young man who allegedly unleashed this atrocity."

Division breeds hatred and intolerance. Sharing and understanding help spread the acceptance and tolerance needed to prevent future tragedies.