FLAME SHAME
BLAME

A sign of tribute and triumph, the Bullhead City, Arizona, Eternal Flame was planned, built and ignited by the city’s esteemed war veterans for those lost, those who came home and those yet to stand on foreign shores. And on Veterans Day, the Medal of Honor Memorial was ignited at Arizona Veterans Memorial Park. At what cost, freedom? According to the bill from the Southwest Gas Company, $961 a month, which seemed a little steep to the city council and so they snuffed the Eternal Flame—snuffed it like the life of a brave American at the feral hands of a Nazi.

“It caught us by surprise,” said city manager Tim Ernster of the first gas bill received. He said the decision was fairly quickly made to turn the flame on for special events only. “Veterans Day, Fourth of July, Memorial Day—those types of activities.” But that didn’t sit well with the uniformed and once-uniformed men and women of the area and as ugly words were spoken, the flame was turned back on, its extinguishing being attributed to a “miscommunication.”

The city says they’re looking at alternatives—a smaller flame, for example—citing “these economic times” as reason enough to reduce gas spending.

by SCOTT SAXON