For the week of  Sept. 26 - Oct. 2, 2001

Who would attack the American flag?

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

American flags are under attack at the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber of Commerce.

Though patriotism is flourishing across the United States and in the Wood River Valley in the wake of Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the East Coast, vandals shredded the chamber’s American flag last Wednesday and then stole its replacement just five days later, on Monday night or Tuesday morning.

"It wasn’t shredded in pieces, but it was definitely ripped," Executive Director Carol Waller said.

Waller speculated that the rips may have been caused by a knife.

Nestor Trujillo, chamber executive assistant and a nationalized U.S. citizen from Columbia, called the actions "outrageous."

"I’m very upset about it," he said. "It really makes me sad."

Trujillo said he has come to appreciate much about his adopted country, and the American flag in particular.

"To have someone do something like this at a time like this, it is insulting to me as a foreign national," he said.

Waller was equally distraught.

"In this type of situation, I’m always amazed. It brings out the best in the majority and the worst in the few," she said.

The events were reported to the Ketchum Police Department, but police told the chamber that there’s little they can do, outside of catching a culprit in the act.

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