Flag vandalism at Comstock ‘discouraging’

Wed., Oct. 6, 2004

By Kandis Carper kandisc@spokesman.com

When vandals damaged the flagpole, cut the ropes and stole the flag at Comstock Park recently, they also ruined two years of community effort.

The 65-foot pole had been repaired, repainted and lighted, and the base was restored. The cost was between $4,000 and $5,000. Much of the work was done by volunteers, and funded through gifts and garage sales.

“This year we worked with the Parks Department to re-install the hardware that was needed to put a flag up there,” said Rick Shulman, chairman of the Comstock Neighborhood Council, which led the restoration project.

“When we put electricity in the park, so that the symphony could plug in, we also set up a light on the pole so we could leave the flag up 24 hours a day. That was our goal,” said Shulman. Before that, volunteers raised and lowered the flag every day.

“About two weeks after we turned that light on, some people, we don’t know who, or exactly when, went in and pried open all the devices we had on the pole to protect the rope. The hardware that’s on there is damaged, the flag is missing, and all the ropes are missing,” said Shulman. “The pole is 65 feet in the air, so it’s not an easy thing to reconstruct it again, because you have to have special equipment to get up there.”

Shulman said that the council has considered asking the fire department for help. “Maybe they could come out with a ladder truck to help us,” he said.

For now, the light has been turned off. Shulman estimates damage at $300 to $500, but said that’s not the main problem.

“The biggest challenge is trying to figure out a way to do it so it won’t be so easily vandalized next time. It’s very, very discouraging for the people who worked very hard this summer, put a lot of labor in, and for the businesses that donated a lot of time and money,” said Shulman.

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