Supervisor Asks Woman To Take Down American Flag

Reporting Carol Cavazos   MANSFIELD (CBS 11 News) ―  

Is it okay to show your patriotism at the office?

For one Arlington woman, the answer was "no" after she hung an American flag in her office just before the Memorial Day weekend.

Debbie McLucas is one of four hospital supervisors at Kindred Hospital in Mansfield. Last week, she hung a three-by-five foot American flag in the office she shares with the other supervisors.

When McLucas came to work Friday, her boss told her another supervisor had found her flag offensive. "I was just totally speechless. I was like, 'You're kidding me,'" McLucas said.

McLucas' husband and sons are former military men. Her daughter is currently serving in Iraq as a combat medic.

Stifling a cry, McLucas said, "I just wonder if all those young men and women over there are really doing this for nothing."

McLucas said the supervisor who complained has been in the United States for 14 years and is formerly from Africa. McLucas said that supervisor took down the flag herself.

"The flag and the pole had been placed on the floor," McLucas said. But McLucas also said hospital higher-ups had told her some patients' families and visitors had also complained.

"I was told it wouldn't matter if it was only one person," she said. "It would have to come down."

McLucas said hospital bosses told her as far as patriotism was concerned, the flag flying outside the hospital building would have to suffice.

"I find it very frightening because if I can't display my flag," McLucas asked, "what other freedoms will I lose before all is said and done?" 

Kindred Healthcare's corporate headquarters are located in Kentucky.  We called them for comment when we were first working on this story Tuesday, but they did not return our calls.

Wednesday morning, however, our story received nationwide attention.  We have received dozens of emails and comments from people who had something to say about it.  And a receptionist at Kindred's headquarters told us they received many phone calls.

Then, late Wednesday morning, Kindred posted on its website a statement about the incident.  It reads, in part:  "The disagreement was over the size of the flag and not what it symbolized. We have invited the employee to put the flag back up."

We're contacting McLucas for her take on what Kindred said.  We'll have that part of the story later today on CBS11TV.com.

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"Louisville, KY (May 28, 2009) – Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE: KND) issued this statement today regarding an incident involving an American flag at Kindred Hopital Mansfield:

We are offended one of our employees took down a colleague's American flag in our Mansfield, TX hospital. It was wrong and as soon as we learned about it we took immediate action to correct the situation. At no time did anyone at Kindred Healthcare instruct anyone to take down the American flag. This was an unauthorized act of an individual employee. The flag is now proudly displayed once again, and we apologize to all who were equally offended by this unpatriotic action, including the owner of the flag. We have reprimanded the employee and let them know we don't tolerate behavior inconsistent with our Company's values.