In The News

TA apologizes, new flag waves over Denton location

The actions of a passionate trucker who took it upon himself to see the Old Glory flying over the TA truck stop in Denton, TX, caused a stir this week in the trucking industry.

When trucker David Ray Thornburg pulled in and noticed there was no American flag flying on the pole at the TA when he pulled in on Memorial Day, he went to a Walmart, where they donated a flag. Although he admittedly did not have permission, he climbed the old unused 20-foot pole and attached a string so the flag could be hoisted.

Thornburg taped the whole process, created a video , added his own narration and music and put it on YouTube. In the video, he calls his efforts “Operation Flagpole.” After the flag was hoisted, he announces that “we got ’er done.”

“I’d like to be able to tell you that the story stopped there, but as you can see, they took it down,” Thornburg says in the video.

The scene in the video with the flagpole bare again, Texas sunset behind it, didn’t go over with truckers and others. The Denton management was soundly drubbed on the Internet. The story also caught the attention of several Texas television news outlets.

Travel Centers of America posted a message on Facebook Wednesday, May 28, regarding the flag incident at its Denton location and apologized that the truck stop did not fly the flag on Memorial Day.

The message was directed to everyone who commented on the “TA Denton site taking the flag; we wanted to let you know that on May 23, all of our location managers were sent a reminder to fly the American flag on Memorial Day.”

TA posted that as a company, it also distributed more than 75,000 American flag window decals to customers at their locations in recognition of active and veteran service men and women.

“Obviously, our franchisee-operated site in Denton, TX, failed to comply with that policy. For that, we sincerely apologize,” the TA corporate message stated.

The posted message went on to address the actions of the driver who climbed the pole.

“Despite the dangers associated with a customer climbing a pole, we applaud the actions of the driver inasmuch as he reminded all of us that issuing a policy is no substitute for action. It was a poignant reminder of the efforts and sacrifices made by service men and women; we will redouble our efforts to ensure this failure will not occur again.”

Soon after the video was released, TA’s Facebook site reported that the Denton site operator took down the broken flag pole to have it repaired.

About noon on Thursday, May 31, the Denton TA was flying a brand new flag .

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