NEW GLOUCESTER — Over the past three weeks, vandals have taken down or torn off four American flags from utility poles along a section of Route 100 and Bald Hill Road, a spokesman for AMVET Post No. 6 said.
“It’s horrible; it ticks me off,” said Jeff Hamilton, who is in charge of the flag program for the veterans’ organization. “I think it’s a disgrace to the American flag. I know that the flags are touching the ground and that’s a sin.”
He added, “The police are not going to help us. They have more pressing issues.”
The veterans wanted to keep the flags up from Memorial Day to Veterans Day, he said. “And now we’ll have to take some of them down due to vandalism. We were trying to give remembrance to the veterans and leave them up to beautify the town.”
AMVET Post 6 has attached 65 flags to utility poles from its hall on Route 100 to Memorial School on Route 231. Each flag costs $55, including the holder. Many were purchased with $2,700 donated by members and the community.
“They took flags down where there are no houses around,” Hamilton said.
Anyone with information on the missing flags is asked to call Hamilton at 926-4079.
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