Tattered flag at Carpentersville post office inspires call for action

For the past two weeks, Glenn Gibbs says he has driven past the tattered and torn American flag flying above the Carpentersville post office and cringed.

"It upsets me anytime anyone lets a flag fly like that," said Gibbs, a 27-year Army veteran who served recently in Iraq, as well as during Desert Storm and the Grenada invasion.

"It caught my eye because it is a federal building. I should never have seen it shred like that."

Each of the flag's 13 stripes is separated from the neighboring panel, and now resembles a worn-out wind catcher rather than a symbol of patriotism and pride.

The flag flies above the building 24 hours a day.

Soon, though, Gibbs and others who have complained about the state of the flag will see a new Stars and Stripes fluttering above the landscape near Meadowdale Mall.

Frank Scarpelli, a property manager for Besinger Properties, said employees would replace the flag as early as today, weather permitting.

"We can't take the lift out if it is too windy or too icy," Scarpelli. "If the weather is good we will replace the flag, but not the rope because we need to special order that."

Postmaster Ralph Kaiser said he had contacted Besinger Properties, owner of the building north of Meadowdale Mall, several times in the past two weeks to replace the knotted flag rope.

"We have flags but we don't have flag rope," Kaiser said. "The rope doesn't work anymore so we can't lower or raise the flag."

Metal strands strengthen the rope to withstand strong winds, but Kaiser said some strands are frayed and have become entangled in the mechanism.

"You can't use a nylon rope," Kaiser said. "We tried that once and the next day the flag was on the ground."

While the post office is responsible for the flagpole, Kaiser said historically Besinger Properties repaired the flag or pole and later billed the post office for the service.

That has become increasingly difficult, Scarpelli said, since his staff is now two members short.

"I have many other things I need to do before I can start working on other people's problems," Scarpelli said. "We are responsible for the common areas of the mall, but that flagpole was a specification the post office asked for when the building was built."

Still, Gibbs said the flag should never reached such a deteriorated condition.

"The Army rents its space and it would never fly a flag that looked like that," Gibbs said. "It is a disrespect to the post office and the country."