If you are a county employee who drives a county government vehicle during your workday, be advised there are now guidelines to follow ifyou want to decorate the vehicle to show support for the troops serving in the Persian Gulf war.
But if you drive a school bus, don't bother decorating the outside of it, school administrators say. It's prohibited.
The proper decor on county-owned vehicles allowed by the new county director of administration: A small yellow ribbon or a small American flag may be displayed on the outside.
Director Larry Klimovitzsaid Wednesday he issued the Feb. 1 memo on county car decorations after several inquiries from employees.
"Some people wanted to put on a whole bunch of flags and ribbons," he said. "So I decided to putdown guidelines so no one would have any problems."
But county school bus drivers aren't allowed to do the same, regardless of whetherthe bus belongs to the county or to a subcontractor.
The reason for the contradictory decoration standards: "It's a state law that youcan have nothing on the outside of the bus except for the name of the school system and the number of bus," said Albert Seymour, a spokesman for the Harford Board of Education.
However, bus drivers are allowed to decorate the interior of buses.
"I know the bus drivers are upset because they want their support to be visible, but when theDepartment of Motor Vehicles tells you, 'You can't do it,' you can'tdo it," Seymour said.
"We have more than 300 buses in the county,and they're inspected by the state every three months. They're very quick to notice violations. We had a call recently regarding bumper stickers on some buses. It's all just for the safety of the children."