Out Back Question of the Week—Answer

In a number of places in Lowell the American flag flies at night.

The question is, what is the rule for flying the American flag at night?  (For those of you who think that it is silly to "have rules" for such things, don't look at what Washington is doing to American health care these days.)

To make it easy, this is a multiple-guess test was provided:

1. The flag must be flown from the building itself and not on a flag pole at ground level.
2. The flag must be flown on the side of the main (public) entrance to the building.
3. The flag must be flown on the East side of the building, facing the rising sun.
4. The flag must be illuminated.

THE ANSWER IS (from UNITED STATES CODE
, TITLE 36
, CHAPTER 10, PATRIOTIC CUSTOMS):

§174. Time and occasions for display

(a) Display on buildings and stationary flagstaffs in open; night display

It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on
 stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed twenty-four hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.

And, Neal Crossland jumped right on this one, so kudos to him.

Further, Bill Plummer caught me in a spelling error, so kudos to him.

Regards  —  Cliff