QUESTION: I’m a military veteran, and I remember being taught the proper care and display of the American flag. I know we were told that the flag had to be taken down at sunset.

When I drive on I-90 at night, I notice that there are flags flying at car dealerships and other businesses — and even two flags on an overpass in Post Falls.

I’m pretty sure I know the rules for the flag, so I want to know: Is there some exception to fly it at night?

ANSWER: The short answer is yes, and yes.

You absolutely learned the proper procedures for handling and displaying the American flag — how it has to hang indoors, that it isn’t supposed to touch the ground and definitely how and when it should be removed from a flagpole.

But your guess about some exceptions was correct, as well.

Let’s start at the beginning.

The flag has been around a long time, but exactly how it should be flown wasn’t codified until World War II.

Congress decided there should be some strict and respectful rules concerning the flag.

On June 22, 1942, Congress passed a joint resolution — amended on Dec. 22 of the same year — that encompassed what has come to be known as the U.S. Flag Code.

Among other guidelines, it stated that if the flag were flown in the open (outdoors), it should be from sunrise to sunset and not in inclement weather.

“Our staff has really researched care of the flag,” said Kit Hoffer, public information specialist for the city of Post Falls. “Those flags on the Greensferry Road overpass definitely are ours. The roadway was built by the state, but we maintain it.

“We actually have flags that fly 24 hours per day on that overpass, at City Hall, at the cemetery and at least one of our parks.

“There’s no way we’d fly them at night if there weren’t an exception to that ‘sunset’ rule.”

And Hoffer was happy to cite it, from Section 6 of the flag code: “It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open.

“However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.”

Hoffer noted that each flag flying at night in Post Falls is brightened by recessed lighting.

“They put lights in the ground to shine upward on the flags,” she said.

Obviously, we can’t vouch for every private business that flies Old Glory day and night — after all, “patriotic effect” can be in the eye of the beholder — but we’re happy to report that Post Falls is on the case.

So go ahead and enjoy that sight of the flags on Greensferry Road without the slightest worry.