Sandy Brown was looking out of her kitchen window on June 3 when she noticed something amiss. The small American flags on her front lawn were missing.
Later that day, she noticed that all the flags on her neighbors’ lawns on Boxwood and Bobwhite lanes, were also missing.
“I’m guessing this is deliberate,” Brown said. “I was very upset.”
Brown’s daughter, Debbie Barberi, and grandson, who is part of Cub Scout Troop 381, were part of the group that helped placed hundreds of flags throughout the B-section of Hicksville. But last week, the flags started disappearing overnight and now, most of them are gone.
“It’s very unfortunate. All the people who saw us putting them out were happy and all said thank you. It was a nice experience and it’s unfortunate that someone had the inclination to do something like that,” Barberi said. “It was a good will and patriotic gesture and now it’s sad. I’m hoping it was just a prank and not something more serious like anti-American sentiment.”
Residents in the area suspect that local kids are to blame.
“Around here, everyone keeps their flags out for weeks. But the past couple of nights, they’ve been disappearing,” said Richard Cusack, a former police officer who lives on Boxwood Lane. “Kids do certain things, but usually they never mess with those flags. This has never happened before.”
The area is located close to Old Country Road School and Brown said that she has noticed that kids do go to the school late at night to hang out. She said she’s extremely upset that someone would take the flags.
“I call that vandalism,” she said. “I think it was mean. It was a nice thing and it’s mean to take the flags from people that like them.”
There has been no other damage to the homes other than the flags being stolen.
If you have any information about the missing flags, let us know by emailing editor Betsy Abraham at babraham@antonmediagroup.com or by calling 516-403-5104.
