Town restricts military ribbons

Litchfield (WTNH) - A practice that honors members of the military has become controversial in one part of Litchfield. Putting yellow ribbons on the town green trees is prohibited.

Things were contentious at a board meeting, Wednesday evening. The committee that oversees the public Green in Litchfield originally said no yellow ribbons at all for the troops. There were originally dozens tied to the trees on the Green, and townspeople say it has been like that for years.

But someone cut them down. Wednesday night the committee voted to allow one ribbon in the center of the green.

"[I am] very angry, very frustrated," said Mitch Garden of Litchfield. "I think they made a very weak decision, they took the easy way out on this one."

"I am not happy, I am not happy at all other than the flag," said Leslie Caron of Litchfield. "This is what they offered us in December: one ribbon."

Bob Wilson: "One ribbon for troops that are giving their lives for our country, ma'am. (woman turns away) You you just turn you back on that? What do you say to them?"
Board Member: (pause) What do you say to them? You were at this meeting..."
Wilson: "...I am not the one making the decisions."
Board Member: (pause) I say that I am very sorry if we can't meet everyone's needs or one person's idea of exactly how something should be."

A standing room only crowd had a different idea.

Steve Ardussi has a son who just arrived in Baghdad this week. He is a Major in the Army with 12-years of service in the First Armored Division.

His father wants to put up a ribbon for him and let his son know he is not forgotten.

In regard to just one ribbon, Ardussi said, "it's not symbolic of what it means. When you walk through the town Green and you see 50-100 ribbons, each service member is represented. That is what we had seven years ago. When the ribbons first went up they were there for seven years or more."

On Saturday they will be having a ceremony to put one ribbon around a tree and also raise the flag in honor, memory of the troops, in support of the troops.

Just to make it clear we want to point out the committee's point of view. They said clearly they're afraid that if they put up one ribbon, a yellow ribbon, all of a sudden another group -- pink ribbon maybe for breast cancer, or another ribbon for their cause -- they're worried about all of a sudden having ribbons for all the different causes on the Green. That's why they said they limited it to just one yellow ribbon.

* Editor's note: This story has been edited to fix quotations and add additional context.