No ban for Idaho troops’ keepsake knives

[unhappycamper]

No ban for Idaho troops’ keepsake knives
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Apr 1, 2008 21:43:07 EDT

After a brief Internet kerfuffle made it look as though the Navy was ending an Idaho tradition of presenting veterans with special keepsake knives, commanders are assuring everyone involved that they’ve gotten the point, and the ceremonies will go forward.

The miniature scandal began Monday when the Coeur d’Alene Press newspaper reported that local Navy commanders were going to block 40 Seabee reservists from accepting their knives this weekend at the Buck Knives factory in Post Falls, Idaho. Because each custom, commemorative knife — its blade engraved by laser and with golden service emblems inlaid in its handle — was worth about $140, it exceeded the $20 top value for gifts that active-duty service members are permitted to receive, the story reported.

Military booster Graham Crutchfield, a former Marine in Hayden, Idaho, who organizes the gift knives with Buck company officials, told the newspaper: “I can’t believe any service would do such a thing.”

The story immediately began making the rounds among bloggers, on message boards and at online news sites. “Who’s in charge here? Dumb and Dumber?” asked a poster on the Coeur d’Alene Press Web site, quoted also by the news site WorldNetDaily.

But as quickly as it started, the Navy tried to diffuse the online outrage. On Tuesday top officials contacted Post Falls city officials, Buck Knives and Crutchfield himself to assure them that the Navy had no problem with troops receiving the keepsake knives.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/navy_knife_mixup_040108w/