While the rest of the nation mourned the passing of former President Gerald Ford and lowered flags to half-staff, flags flying high greeted visitors to South Carolina Welcome Centers Tuesday morning.

A concerned viewer contacted News Channel 7 and we contacted the state Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, which runs the Welcome Centers. Spokesman Marion Edmonds said the agency had not received notification from state Facilities Management about lowering the flags. He then contacted Facilities Management, which sent an email to all state agencies letting them know that flags should be lowered.

"Thanks to your call, we got a jump on other agencies and lowered all the flags at our Welcome Centers and state parks," Edmonds said.

Flags on the Statehouse and some other state agencies had already been flying at half-staff.

Facilities Management is part of the State Budget and Control Board. Spokesman Michael Sponhour says the agency had previously sent out an email about the flags.

"We sent that notice out on the 27th of December and, while many agencies got that notice and took action, some apparently didn't for whatever reason and we have subsequently sent out a reminder notice that went out this morning," Sponhour says. "We believe all flags are now at half-staff, as they will be until the 26th of January."

He says the mix-up may have been because of the holidays and regular staff members didn't see the first notice.

State law says flags on the State Capitol Building must be lowered to half-staff for 30 days following the death of a President or former President. The law does not require other state buildings to lower their flags, but they and local governments traditionally follow what's being done at the Statehouse, Sponhour says.

This isn't the first time there's been concern about flags not flying at half-staff to honor someone who's died. When civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks died in 2005, the state did not lower flags to half-staff because state law wouldn't allow it. The law has a specific list of elected officials and others for whom the flag can be lowered. The legislature was not in session at the time of her death, so the governor could not legally order the flags lowered.

So the legislature passed a new law last  year allowing the governor to order flags lowered whenever an act of Congress or a presidential order is issued to lower flags on federal buildings.