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June 26, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels May 24, 2004 Parent riled over stolen flag By Bill Choy Ashland Daily Tidings Lane Morris was shocked to discover his three-by-five foot American Flag and pole were missing from the driveway of his Ashland home on the morning of May 17. Lane Morris, with a portrait of his son, Marine Corporal Bryan Morris, stands in front of a flag that replaced the one stolen from his Taylor Street home. The flag and yellow ribbons have been on display since Bryan left Ashland to serve in Iraq and Kuwait in 2003. "I was like, what happened to it?" Morris said. After looking in his yard and asking his wife if she knew where it went, Morris determined someone had stolen the flag. He reported the incident to the police. While he is unsure if the flag was stolen as a prank, political statement, or for other reasons, the loss of his stars and stripes was especially painful to him considering it was put up in honor of his son. Morris, an Ashland resident for 20 years, put the flag up last March, around the time U.S forces entered Iraq. His son, Bryan Morris, 22, is a 2000 graduate of Ashland High School and a Corporal in the Marines. He was part of a helicopter support unit, and was one of the troops who went from Kuwait to Baghdad and saw his share of combat situations, his father said. "We had an all-weather flag out 24 hours a day in front of our home and we planned to fly it up until the war was over, and after it ended, after he finished with his service in February (of 2005)," Lane Morris said. "It's upsetting. As a parent, I just wanted to honor my son and his friends who are serving their country and letting them know we want them to come home safe." Bryan Morris left Iraq in August after serving in the Middle East for eight months and is currently stationed in Camp Pendleton in California. If it was a political statement against what the United States has done in Iraq, Morris wished they would have used other methods of protest. "It's a free country," he said. "They have a right to disagree. But when they take a flag honoring someone it's a low blow. There's better ways to express themselves." Why steal a flag? When Morris e-mailed his son, Bryan Morris response was "what kind of person would steal a flag?" his father said. In a e-mail to the Tidings, Bryan Morris expressed what the flag meant to him while he was in Iraq, calling it "very sacred and precious." "It was a symbol of home and what we were fighting for," he said. "We flew it as we crossed into Iraq and every camp we stayed at. It is a symbol of pride reminding us of our loved ones. A friend of mine drew a flag on the front of a card for me and I put that in the window of the truck I drive into Iraq... I would hope that everyone else would respect the symbol of their country also." Ashland Police Chief Mike Bianca said it's hard to determine for certain if a flag was stolen for political reasons if there's no outright signs such as graffiti or other statements expressing an outright grievance with the flag and what it may represent to them. "Flags have disappeared in the past. Anything's possible," Bianca said. "We have had sporadic stolen flags reported, but nothing linking it to a political statement." Sgt. Jim Alderman of the APD said flags have been stolen during holidays like Veterans Day when the Kiwanis Club puts them up around town. He said flags have not consistently been stolen in Ashland and Jackson County in a while. The last time it occurred on a consistent basis in the county was last March, at the start of aggressions with Iraq. Whatever the reason, Lane Morris will not to be deterred. By Wednesday, he had already bought and put up a new pole and flag. 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