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Blue ribbons ordered to be removed from Royalston town common

ROYALSTON, Mass. — Blue ribbons supporting law enforcement have been ordered to come down from Royalston's town property.

State Trooper wives have been putting up blue ribbons across Massachusetts this summer. The wife of a trooper asked the Royalston chief about putting up blue ribbons.

“We're just here to support law enforcement in general. And whether you are purple, green, pink. They're in law enforcement and we just want them to know we are here. We are one huge family,” said Kimberly Watson, a member of MSP Wives.

The chief told FOX25 that he told her she should run it by the select board since she wanted to put them on town common.

The select board didn't meet before the event was planned, so the MSP Wives put up the ribbons with the verbal okay on Aug. 30, with a plan to take them down Sept. 30. The wife in charge then talked to town officials the day after she put them up. In Royalston, permits to display something like this are usually for a couple of weeks. At first the select board didn't even think to do an official permit because it was for police and the ribbons were already up.

Law enforcement families joined together to show support to all law enforcement families by placing blue ribbons around...

Posted by Royalston Police Department on Monday, August 15, 2016

On Sept. 7, two citizens raised concerns about the blue ribbons at a select board meeting. They said they didn't like them being up on town property without an official permit. The select board voted 2-1 to retroactively grant the permit to the woman to display the ribbons, but only through Sept. 9. They must come down that evening.

“They've been up a while now. I don't know, a couple of weeks,” said Gene Cauthen.

The 40-year resident doesn’t feel one way or the other about the ribbons.

“I think the town, meaning collectively, it's time for them to come down, I would agree with that," Cauthen told FOX25.

But with recent acts of violence against police around the country, others don’t feel the same way.

Residents told FOX25 there is a rally planned on Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. during the select board meeting to show support for law enforcement.