As the Salvation Army bell ringers start to emerge in full force, they may be down one important bell ringer.

According to a Dec. 4 Northwestern article, the Oshkosh Salvation Army’s leader for the past three years, Capt. Johnny Harsh, has been suspended for disobeying orders and could soon be terminated from the agency. Harsh knowingly violated the rule that an officer in the agency may only marry another officer of the organization. Harsh is engaged to marry a woman not affiliated with the Salvation Army in June 2009, after his previous wife unexpectedly died in June 2008.

The Salvation Army is a charity and social services organization affiliated with Christianity. They do not receive funding from the government, so therefore they can make up their own rules. Although this particular rule is questionable, it is within their right to have and enforce it.

It is unfortunate that a charitable organization like the Salvation Army would have a rule like this that could potentially deter people from wanting to become leaders of the agency. One of the points of the Salvation Army is to aid in the relief of poverty and to reach out to others, and having a rule that officers can only marry each other does not affect how this goal is carried out. It is not a good recruiting tool, and regulating that officers can only marry officers really gives them slim pickings as far as choosing whom to marry.

But as much as it is a bad policy, it is sad that Harsh knowingly broke the rule and now brings unneeded publicity on the agency. In what is the agency’s most important month, and during one of the nation’s most economically difficult times, the agency could potentially see a decrease in donations. The situation is something that really isn’t an issue, but just a matter of someone breaking rules and getting punished for it. Hopefully the coverage of this comes and goes, and more focus can be given to the season of giving.