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Officials work on flag disposal plan
Published March 9, 2008
After seeing several people throw away American flags after they had become worn and faded, Brazoria County Sheriff Charles Wagner got an idea to help properly dispose of them.
“I’ve seen them in trash cans and that’s not proper,” he said.
Wagner and police chiefs in Brazoria County decided last week to create a program in which residents can drop of torn and tattered flags at local police stations to then be delivered to the sheriff’s office instead of throwing them away.
“You don’t have far to go,” he said. “The paddy wagon goes to every police department every day. This gives people a proper way to dispose of American flags.”
The paddy wagon will bring the flags to the sheriff’s office, where they will be stored until they can be disposed of properly by area Boy Scouts. Wagner said the flags would be made available to local Scout troops to aid in teaching them how to retire a flag.
“They have a program were they do proper disposal of the flag,” he said.
That process, which every Boy Scout must learn, is called a retirement ceremony in which the flag is cut and then burned, said John Bernzen, district executive for the Bay Area Council for Boy Scouts of America.
“You just don’t throw it in the trash,” he said. “Often people aren’t quite sure what to do.”
There is a small, quiet ceremony surrounding the flag’s retirement, he said.
“You cut the flags up in stripes and burn them one at a time,” he said. “It’s a very solemn event. We’re talking about the symbol that represents our country.”
Alvin Police Chief Mike Merkel said the program is a good idea that shows respect for the flag and provides a service to Boy Scouts.
“Most of the chiefs agreed this is a viable program,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for the public to respectfully submit their flags which can’t be flown. The Boy Scouts benefit from the opportunity to learn citizenship.”
Details of the program have not been ironed out, but Wagner said the police stations will start to accept the flags sometime next week.
Wagner said worn Texas flags also would be accepted for disposal.
John Tompkins is senior reporter for The Facts. Contact him at (979) 237-0149.
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