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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels November 11, 2004 Vandals delay Flag display By Bill Choy Ashland Daily Tidings Members of the Ashland Kiwanis Club got a rude Veterans Day wake-up call this morning when they discovered vandals had put gravel and wet cement into 65 flag holders on Siskiyou Boulevard. Jerry Meyer drills cement out of a flag holders with the help of Tom Grimm this morning. Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings Mike Bakke, treasurer for the club and co-chair of the flag committee, said 56 of those flag holders were connected to street lights in the middle of the boulevard, with the rest at local businesses such as Safeway and the Stratford Inn. The vandalized flag holders were discovered around 6:30 a.m. The group was still able to put up more than 200 flags throughout the rest of the town early this morning. For Bakke, a Vietnam veteran, the vandalism was hard to take, knowing someone would do something like this on a day that honors veterans and their sacrifice. "I was near tears because of the anger I felt," he said. "It's just not right." Bakke said while he has no way to know the vandals' motivation, he wouldn't be surprised if this was a political statement. "There's other venues," he said. "They don't have to be destructive. When veterans get a hold of this, they are going to be upset. ... If whoever did this has a problem, they need to get over it and move on. It shouldn't be done this way." Word quickly spread about the vandalism, with several community members showing up to clean up the mess. Carrying screwdrivers and hammers, they were able to get out the still wet cement and gravel from the flag holders, with Kiwanis members following closely behind putting in the flags. People who lent a hand included employees of the Southern Oregon University family housing department and local citizens. Wearing a suit and tie, Dave Whitney, director of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Institute of Religion on Siskiyou Boulevard, worked to get the cement out of the flag holders. "I was frustrated when I heard what happened," he said. "I wanted to do something to counteract this vandalism." Steven Burgess of Ashland, who served in the military in the mid-1970s, said he wanted to help out, so the flags could be displayed on Veterans Day. "I love this flag and country, and this is pathetic way of protest," he said. "This is so childish and not the way to do it." Bakke said it meant a lot to him to see this show of support from the community. "It's awesome," he said. "It's wonderful to see this outpouring of patriotism." This was not the first time vandals have struck the flag holders, Bakke said. On July 4, Kiwanis club volunteers discovered gravel had been put into 68 flag holders in the middle of the boulevard, which they were able to take out. While the club notified police about the July incident, members decided not to file a complaint and make it public because they did not want to encourage whoever did it, he said. The club does plan to press charges this time, Bakke said. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams