Profile in courage

N.C. employee refuses to lower flags for Helms

July 9, 2008

By Ryan Teague Beckwith McClatchy Newspapers

RALEIGH, N.C. — L.F. Eason III gave up the only job he'd ever had rather than lower a flag to honor former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.

Eason, a 29-year veteran of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly the U.S. or North Carolina flags at half mast Monday as called for in a directive to all state agencies by Gov. Mike Easley.