{"id":65539,"date":"2025-12-19T19:59:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T19:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/65539\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T19:59:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T19:59:17","slug":"hometown-hero-banner-honoring-biden-creates-stir-among-veterans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/65539\/","title":{"rendered":"Hometown Hero banner honoring Biden creates stir among veterans"},"content":{"rendered":"

A decision by the Green Ridge Neighborhood Association to honor former President Joe Biden with a \u201cHometown Hero\u201d banner outside his childhood home in Scranton sparked anger and confusion among area veterans.<\/p>\n

Laura Agostini, president of the association, expected some politically fueled commentary when the banner was erected along North Washington Avenue, but didn\u2019t envision the level of outrage it prompted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are well aware that he is not a veteran and we did anticipate some political blowback, but not to the extent that it has gone,\u201d she said. \u201cWe had to notify the police because there were threats made against us \u2014 and people were threatening to tear down the banner \u2014 which concerned us. The attention that it has garnered, and the backlash from it, has been extremely surprising.\u201d<\/p>\n

Air Force veteran Mike Gavin, 78, of Scranton, who served from 1966 to 1970 \u2014 including a stint in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969 \u2014 believes allowing nonveterans to be depicted on the banners detracts from their significance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel the purpose of those banners was to honor veterans \u2014 not necessarily even war veterans, but veterans, period, who served in the military for their country,\u201d Gavin said. \u201cThat was why they started it and that\u2019s why it should continue that way. I voted for Biden, I like Joe Biden, but I believe you taint the purpose of the banners being put up in the first place, number one, and number two, there are a million other ways to honor a former president than putting that banner up. If they change it for one, they\u2019re going to have to change it for everybody, and the whole purpose of doing it in the first place is gone. As a veteran, it loses the meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Agostini stressed the association never meant to diminish the sacrifices made by veterans when it chose to recognize Biden with a banner.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided being that President Biden\u2019s childhood home was in our neighborhood, it would be appropriate to put up a banner for him as commander in chief,\u201d she said. \u201cThe matter was voted on at a neighborhood association meeting, and there were veterans and active duty military in attendance. I am in no way demeaning what veterans do for our country, but I think this has been blown way out of proportion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Agostini stated that, as of Thursday afternoon, the association had not received a complaint from anyone who purchased one of the approximately 120 banners.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband, Brett, is a combat veteran and he has no qualms about this, and we had a 72-year-old disabled veteran who actually helped put the banners up, and he had no concerns about it,\u201d she said. \u201cThere have been other organizations and projects across the county with the hometown heroes banners who have put up first responders and others who are not veterans, so it did not occur to us that anyone would be upset about it because (Biden) is not a veteran.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fate of the banner on North Washington Avenue remains unclear at the moment, Agostini said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs of right now, it\u2019s going to remain up, but we haven\u2019t made a decision yet,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Army veteran Andy Chomko, who served four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2003 to 2007, previously worked on the West Scranton Hometown Heroes banner project and maintains that honoring Biden goes against the main focus of the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand the Hometown Heroes banner project might not be just for veterans, but it\u2019s reserved for people who did stuff heroically and with valor,\u201d he said. \u201cThe original intent of the program was to honor veterans \u2014 and then if people did something heroic, with valor, like they stopped a gunman, they ran into a burning building, or they saved someone\u2019s life. That\u2019s what is missing here, and when standards get moved and circumstances shift, veterans notice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chomko first leaned of the controversial banner through a text message on Friday night, and received calls from several other veterans on Saturday morning, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo of them said they were having a real tough time with this, and this isn\u2019t right,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s when I said we have to draw some attention to this, and we\u2019re going to make it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chomko said the design of Biden\u2019s banner \u2014 which he noted looks similar to those of veterans \u2014 raised some concerns in the military community, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe picture portrays it just as if it was a veteran,\u201d Chomko said. \u201cIt\u2019s not the 46th president of the United States with a presidential seal, or \u2018Green Ridge proud,\u2019 their intent was pretty clear. It was ill-advised and not very well thought out. I think that\u2019s what strikes the chord with so many veterans. It\u2019s portrayed as the same, and it\u2019s not. Yes, he was the commander in chief. Did he serve in the military? No.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA committee created by Scranton City Council will determine if it\u2019s feasible to rename Wyoming Avenue or another prominent city street for President Joe Biden. In November, the city designated a portion of North Washington Avenue outside Biden\u2019s childhood home as \u201cJoe Biden Way.\u201d
\n\"AA note written by President-Elect Joe Biden on Election Day is seen on the wall of Anne Kearns\u2019 Green Ridge home, the childhood home of the President-Elect, in Scranton on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021.
\n\"Then-DemocraticThen-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden greets supporters Nov. 3, Election Day, as he leaves his boyhood home in Scranton\u2019s Green Ridge section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A decision by the Green Ridge Neighborhood Association to honor former President Joe Biden with a \u201cHometown Hero\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":{"0":"post-65539","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-lackawanna-county","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-scranton","13":"tag-scranton-headlines","14":"tag-scranton-news","15":"tag-top-stories-stt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}