Milpitas is a small, sleepy suburb of San Jose. It's got a huge shopping mall (built out of the former Ford assembly plant that built Falcons and Mustangs), and lots of office space for Roxio, the manufacturer of CD-burning software. But the city made headlines last week when its city council on Tuesday "unanimously approved a resolution that recognizes the former Republic of Vietnam flag and sanctions its display at City Hall during ceremonies", as this the San Jose Mercury News article explains:

Pham Huu Son, president of the San Jose-based Vietnamese-American Community of Northern California, said the South Vietnamese flag has been officially displayed in such cities as Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Westminster in Southern California. San Jose has a proclamation that recognizes the flag, according to community leaders.

``We're petitioning to have the flag displayed wherever there are Vietnamese,'' he said. ``This is to recognize the Vietnamese flag which existed before the communists, as the authentic flag of Vietnam. We're victims of communism and we can't salute that flag.''

Although the South Vietnamese flag has been flown during flag-raising ceremonies at Milpitas' Higuera Adobe Park, Tuesday's action officially sanctions the flying of the flag on such occasions at the park and at the flagpole in the plaza behind City Hall.

The council resolution also expresses support for a pending state Assembly bill that urges the state to formally recognize the South Vietnamese flag as the official symbol of the Vietnamese-American community and permit the flag to be ceremonially displayed on state property.

(Now if only we could that flag restored in its homeland...)