DEAR SUN SPOTS: I responded to a recent Sun Spots letter (June 20) asking for volunteers to remove from two Lewiston cemeteries the small flags which were placed by all the veteran graves in observance of Memorial Day.

As I was leaving, I asked the people who organized the project where they would be storing the flags and was told that they are all going to be disposed of, as they are every year. This, I was informed, is at the direction of City Hall, since the flags are purchased (as required by law) by the city.

Since the vast majority of the flags are still in perfect condition and could easily be reused for at least another two or three years, this seems to be a surprising waste of resources — not only in regard to the flags themselves but the money which was used to purchase them, which presumably comes out of the pockets of local taxpayers.

If one takes into consideration the number of flags which are distributed each year to all of the Lewiston cemeteries, which I was told was in the vicinity of 20,000, and multiplies that by the typical per-flag bulk rate cost of $1, then that’s $20,000, or the equivalent of one part-time position (or after two years, a full-time position).

In view of the fact that the city has just made another round of job cuts (the second in four years) due to budget constraints, this doesn’t seem to make sense. Could you put on your detective hat, Sun Spots, and find out if this practice is true? And if so, why? — Concerned Citizen, Lewiston

ANSWER: Sun Spots emailed Marcus Talarico, who made the original request for volunteers. He referred the question to Lewiston City Clerk Kathy Montejo, who wrote the following:

“The city volunteers place about 5,000 flags within the city’s 15 cemeteries. These of course are only placed at veteran’s graves and not at every grave in every cemetery. And this is also only if military service is listed on the headstone. If no military service is listed, we don’t place a flag because we are not aware of their service.

“A dozen or so spare flags are left at the cemetery offices should a family member visit the grave site and not see a flag, but state their loved one was a veteran. They are certainly given the benefit of the doubt and allowed to take a flag for placement. Widows and family members can come here to get one if it is a city-owned cemetery.

“Towns in Maine have been required to do this service since Memorial Day 2001. I understand people’s concerns about the expense, but every town in Maine that has a cemetery located in their town is required by statute to have an individual flag placed at each veteran’s gravestone if the veteran is buried in their town. Prior to that, a central flagpole in each cemetery was sufficient, but the law changed at the request of veterans groups many years ago.

“We purchase 5,000 flags each year and it is budgeted each year. (Would we love to have a community sponsor or underwriter for this program? You bet! We would love it if a local business or local organization chose to adopt this as a community program effort to help fund the cost.) The cost is about 78 cents a flag if I recall correctly off the top of my head.

“We purchase from a Lewiston vendor, and they are the cloth flags. We did look at purchasing flags from a national company at a cheaper price a few years ago, but when we received a sample, they were plastic flags as opposed to cloth and really would not have represented the dignity and respect the city wanted to portray to the veterans’ families.

“We used to reuse flags up until a few years ago. We found that too many of the flags had bird droppings, dead insects, were somewhat weather worn if it has been especially windy and rainy, some frayed, many only partially attached/stapled to the wooden post from wind, had grass clippings from mowings and so forth. The base of the posts were all dirty from the dirt in the ground as well.

“Even if you brushed them off, they were still stained from dirt and mud. Again it seems to be a respect issue — the city wanting to present the respect of posting a fresh, crisp new flag for a veteran’s grave as a tribute for their service seemed appropriate.”

Sun Spots was not aware of any of this. She thanks Kathy and Marcus for their quick responses to her queries, and Concerned Citizen for asking.

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