EDITORIAL - Well it is back after an absence of three months and everyone on Madera's west-side couldn't be happier. I am of course speaking of McDonald's on Howard Road. Driving by the new building that houses the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder with Cheese and of course the Chicken McNuggets, the lines in the new double menu drive through are always packed and the restaurant looks busy.

I had hoped that the industry leader in good food made fast would have found away to make the Big Mac's and McMuffin's coexist in their restaurant for breakfast but this did not happen. How about figuring out how to melt a piece of cheese before I am given my sandwich. I mean how hard is it to melt cheese?

I was hoping those little plastic cups they put the milk shakes in could have disappeared and Ronald McDonald realize that a shake is not a McCafe item but something that goes with a burger and fries in a paper cup without the whipped cream and cherry. This didn't happen either.

What they did get rid of though is something that really concerns me.

McDonald's is every much a symbol of this country as cherry pie and Chevrolet. When someone thinks of America, McDonald's comes to mind with the Big Mac, fries, a Coca Cola and a Hot Apple Pie. So why has McDonald's, at least here in Madera, abandoned it's support of the American Flag?

I thought McDonald's was a company that prided itself on it's patriotism. They've run commercials of the young McDonald's employee raising the flag at sunrise while inside breakfast is cooking for the town that was just waking up. They ran a commercial of a little boy walking in his neighborhood with his red wagon and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance when he saw a flag displayed on the side of a house.

So why are they abandoning flying the flag and at a time where we still have troops over seas defending our way of life? Is McDonald's no longer proud to be American?

Now I understand that not every business flies the American Flag, but for the last forty years I have seen an American Flag every time I went into the McDonalds here in Madera on Howard Road. The pole was actually the last thing they tore down while demolishing the old restaurant in June.

I know a lot of times they have flown the flag improperly. They failed to bring it to half staff when President's Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford died but got it right for President Ronald Reagan and Jackie Kennedy. They have flown their McDonald's flag underneath the United State's banner, which some say violates Federal code. Yes there are Federal laws on how you are suppose to display the flag.

Title 4 United States Code: Section 8i
.....Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which the flag is flown.

So why has the American flag gone away from McDonald's? I called the local franchisee, Ken Bender, and over the last two weeks he hasn't come up with an answer. Some thing I find a little suspicious about all this is many of the McDonald's in Fresno are still flying the flag. Except for Mr. Bender's restaurant on West Shaw Avenue near Highway 99.

The McDonald's corporation responded to our editorial with this statement, "Wherever possible, McDonald's restaurants in the United States proudly fly the American flag and follow the proper codes for doing so. Approximately 85 percent of McDonald's restaurants are owned and operated by independent businesspeople. As independent owners, McDonald's franchise owners have the authority to make certain operating decisions as they relate to their McDonald's restaurant operations, including the option of flying a flag."

I wish I could report a reason behind their pulled support for the flag of our country. I have no answers, just questions. Questions I hope other supporters of this country might ask Mr. Bender or his partner, Michael Agostini.

"Why does McDonald's no longer fly the flag of this country in front of their restaurants?"

Do you have a story of a place that is flying our flag improperly? Do you have a story of an American Flag flying in disrepair in front of a business? Tell us about it on the Big Valley News Message Board. Just click the link below.