KEY POINTS:
A drum major who waved at President Barack Obama was brought to tears yesterday over his six-month suspension from an Ohio marching band.
"Six months is pretty harsh, I think," firefighter John Coleman told Newsnet 5.
But the Cleveland Firefighter's Memorial Pipes & Drums bandleader said even a glance is out of bounds for marching bands in a parade marking the inauguration of a president.
"We had gone over and over time and again with everyone in the band that this was a military parade.
Protocol and proper decorum had to be followed at all times," bandleader Mike Engle told the Cleveland Plain Dealer.