http://www.mcclatchydc.com/200/v-print/story/43566.html

A Profile In Courage.

Excerpt:

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

When a superior ordered the
lab to follow the directive, Eason decided to retire rather than pay
tribute to Helms. After several hours' delay, one of Eason's employees
hung the flags at half-staff.

The brouhaha began late
Sunday night, when Eason e-mailed eight of his employees in the state
standards lab, which calibrates measuring equipment used on things as
widely varied as gasoline and hamburgers.

"Regardless of
any executive proclamation, I do not want the flags at the North
Carolina Standards Laboratory flown at half staff to honor Jesse Helms
any time this week," Eason wrote just after midnight, according to
e-mail messages released in response to a public records request.

He
told his staff that he did not think it was appropriate to honor Helms
because of his "doctrine of negativity, hate, and prejudice" and his
opposition to civil rights bills and the federal Martin Luther King Jr.
holiday.