Geneva family not deterred by flag thieves

Attention thieves who stole the American flags out of Pat Winters' yard:

You picked on the wrong person.

If you thought stealing half of the 12-inch flags that line the parkway at her Geneva home at 227 Anderson Blvd. on national holidays would discourage her, well, think again.

There will be flags out there today, albeit not as many.

Winters is puzzled by the theft of exactly half the flags. It happened between 4 and 6:30 p.m. on Memorial Day. She was home at the time but was working in the backyard.

Winters canvassed her neighbors to see if any of them had noticed suspicious activity or if they disliked the display. Everybody was puzzled and many said they loved the display.

"We just bought them the day before. I couldn't believe it!" said Winters, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution whose ancestors first came ashore in North America in 1640.

She and her husband have put out small flags, along with bunting on a fence, for three or four years. They also fly a flag all day, every day, on a pole in their yard.

"My husband and I are very patriotic people," she said Friday.