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One of the members of a senior over-60 softball league made up of veterans and retired first responders reported this week that the flag that flies at Stanley Stiller Park in the Town of Poughkeepsie had been taken down and destroyed by an unknown person.
A day after opening up their softball season by saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, it was stolen, thrown into the portable toilet and covered with feces and urine.
The company that owns the porta-potty refused to come to pump it to retrieve the flag, so one of the veterans took a stick and was able to remove the flag from the bottom of the waste.
The flag was washed, rinsed, and laid out to dry. A member of the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department contacted the American Legion to retrieve and attempt to rehabilitate the flag.
“This is entirely inexcusable and terribly disheartening. Desecrating our flag, and damaging public property is insulting, disgraceful and illegal,” Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro said.
“We celebrate the right of all our neighbors to exercise and express their views and beliefs... but, not in this way. Not ever. I encourage those responsible to come forward, show remorse, and provide restitution.”
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