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| Via Newspapers.com |
For this year’s Fourth of July, I’m bringing you something a bit different: A patriotic mystery! The “Bonner County Daily Bee,” August 26, 2014:
KELLOGG - Old Glory is flying high atop a large ponderosa pine on Fourth of July Pass.
How the flag got there, on national forest land, is a mystery.
At night the American flag, which is on the north side of the highway around mile marker 27, is illuminated by a light which makes it clearly visible from Interstate 90. Jay Kirchner, a spokesperson for the Idaho Panhandle National Forest, told The Press Monday that they first got a call about the flag a month ago.
“We have no idea how it got up there,” Kirchner said. "It's on the tip-top of the tree and I can't imagine it would hold the weight of the person holding onto it.”
The Idaho Panhandle National Forest sent its professional tree climbers to assess the tree the flag flies from in order to possibly remove the flag. However, Kirchner said even professionals were reluctant to make the climb.
“It’s just too dangerous for them,” Kirchner said. “To get up on that skinny part of the tree that high up would be too risky. Since it’s not hurting anything, we’re just going to leave it up there for now. It’s not worth the risk.”
But Kirchner added that they would like the flag and light to come down eventually.
“We applaud and respect this individual’s display of patriotism,” Kirchner said. “But they did this on public land and we don’t want more people putting up displays on public land.”
As far as I know, it was never discovered who put the flag up, and, more importantly, how the devil they did it.
