Banners are back on bridge

Deepa Bharath

The stars and stripes will flutter over the bay again.

On Sunday, the Balboa Island Improvement Assn. reported to the

police that someone had stolen at least 10 American flags with their

poles from the Balboa Island bridge, police said.

But on Monday, two people came to Newport Beach police with the

flags, saying they had gotten drunk during the wee hours of Sunday

when they stole the flags, Sgt. Steve Shulman said.

“They returned 11 flags and three PVC poles,” he said.

Shulman said police are not naming the people who took the flags

because they were not arrested, and the association is not pressing

charges.

The incident “outraged” many in the community, said John DeRosa,

the association’s vice president and bridge coordinator.

“This was something that got the whole island up in arms,” he

said. “People are very patriotic here, and the fact that those people

stole the American flags upset many people.”

A day after the theft of the flags, DeRosa said, the association

put up a sign near the bridge that read: “Please return flags

borrowed from bridge on Sunday.”

A few flags have not yet been accounted for, including two Balboa

Island flags and several flagpoles, DeRosa said.

The Balboa Island flags cost twice as much as the American flags,

DeRosa said. The total loss was initially estimated at $650. The

missing flags and poles will still set the association back $350, he

said.

The association has had a long-standing tradition of putting up

the flags around Memorial Day and keeping them up until after

Independence Day, DeRosa said. They symbolize the people’s pride in

their nation, he said.

“To me, the flags are representative of my homeland,” he said.

“It’s something very special.”

Such incidents are rare in Balboa Island, DeRosa said.

“Two years ago, we had someone bend a few poles,” he said. “But

that was it.”

The association will use marine padlocks to secure the flags to

their poles to avoid such incidents in the future, DeRosa said. He

said the flags should all be replaced by today.

Police see people get into all types of situations while

intoxicated, Shulman said.

“People get into fights and commit a variety of crimes, from

burglaries to rapes,” he said. “Often people get intoxicated and do

things they regret later.”