Modern American Flag Celebrates 100 Years

It was 100 years ago this weekend that President Taft signed an executive order that standardized the look of the American flag, which actually isn’t followed by many designers nowadays.

Most people flying the American flag outside their home every day might be surprised to find it probably isn’t the right dimensions under federal law. In fact, it was 100 years ago this weekend that President William Howard Taft signed an executive order that standardized the look of the American flag, which isn’t followed by many designers nowadays. “It established proportions and sizes,” said Richard Gideon, who is a professional vexillologist, of the 1912 executive order. “Up until that point, there was never any direction about how you should make a U.S. flag. Which, oddly enough, no one abides by these days.” Gideon and Old St. Lukes Church in Scott Township are hosting an event on June 24 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the …

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Jonesin' For News

It's Our Birthday!

We're celebrating Chartiers Valley Patch's first anniversary by listing our top stories from 2011.

It’s our 1st Patchiversary! It was on Dec. 13, 2010 that we launched Chartiers Valley Patch and quickly became the news hub for everything happening in Bridgeville, Collier, Heidelberg and Scott. Now, there are a dozen other Patch websites in western Pennsylvania, and nearly 900 across the country. Our biggest story of the year was about the newborns swaddled in Terrible Towels at St. Clair Hospital just before the Super Bowl. It quickly went viral and was “Liked” by more than 3,000 people across the country on Facebook. There were other interesting stories such as the firing – and subsequent re-hiring – of Spencer Stefko as the high school girls’ basketball coach. The story received 111 comments and the firestorm that followed led to …

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Amanda Gillooly

8:07 pm on Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Happy birthday, budday!   more ›