Not long ago a reader asked me, the Answer Man, why the official Greene County flag does not fly outside the Greene County Jail, sheriff's office and training center at 5100 W. Division St.
She was adamant that the sheriff was obliged to fly the county flag because, after all, by God!, it was county government money that built the county justice center.
To be honest, that seemed a bit of a stretch in terms of a story. I didn't feel nearly as adamant.
But you never know. If Sheriff Jim Arnott wasn't flying a Greene County flag outside the jail, maybe he was flying something else. Maybe something like this:
Or maybe this one:
I waited for a nice day and took a drive to the jail for a look.
Along with the national and state flags, there is a third flag there, but it's not the official Greene County flag.
Sheriff's office flies its own flag
Instead, it's a Greene County Sheriff's office insignia that's on a black background. It has the Great Seal of the State of Missouri on the image of a deputy's badge.
I suppose you could argue it's not the official Greene County flag. But I'm not going to argue that. It's still a Greene County flag.
I would liken it to someone chastising me for not wearing the official Hauxeda polo shirt while I'm sporting a Hauxeda cap.
(I know what you're thinking. You think I'm now going to tell you how to buy our merchandise at a great deal. But no. We don't have merchandise available for purchase.)
All of this leads me back to the question: There's an official Greene County flag?
It's not the easiest thing to find online. But I used my super-power reporting skills to deduce that the Greene County flag was likely flying at county buildings that are not the jail and sheriff's office.
There's a reason I don't write stories in Latin
It is flying at those locations. The Greene County flag has a white background with “1833” on it for the year in which Greene County was created.
The seal on the flag was created in 1979 by Robert White, who at the time was a 32-year-old art teacher at Glendale High School. In fact, his design was one of over 30 submitted to a panel of independent judges in a contest sponsored by the Greene County Court. White won $250 for his entry.
The flag has Latin on it. As you probably know, Latin is a dead language, which means to me that the only people who could possibly read our county flag are dead. So what's the point?
There's a reason I don't write stories in Latin.
The Latin words on our county flag are “Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto.”
As best as I can tell, this means “Greetings People Awesome Chicken Karst.”
Or perhaps — “Let the safety of the people be the supreme law” — makes more sense. It's the motto of the state of Missouri.
Oak leaves and acorns? Or wilted lettuce?
The Greene County flag has a shield with three sections. I've read that the three sections represent the three county commissioners.
Each section has a “fasces” — definitely a word you don't want to misspell.,
A “fasces” is a bundle of rods with a projecting axe. It was carried by Roman magistrates as the symbol of their office.
Above the shield on the county flag is the native Ozark oak tree, representing strength, longevity and growth. The shield is bracketed by the national and state flags.
The whole shebang is circled by a wreath of oak leaves and acorns.
I've read that the oak leaf clusters are the symbols of recognition of the people and each acorn represents a municipal township. I'll just have to accept this on faith because, to me, they look like pieces of wilted lettuce placed end-to-end.
In my symbolic world, our county flag portends years without produce.
Admittedly, I know as much about flag design as I know Latin. But the more I look at the official Greene County flag, the better the Greene County Sheriff's Office flag looks.
This is Answer Man column No. 67.
