Only days after a complaint had been made about the American flag that flies on Flattop Mountain, and after the flag had been refreshed by a small group of intrepid legislators, the new flag went missing.
Several people contacted Must Read Alaska to say the American flag had been stolen, after Reps. Kelly Merrick, Lance Pruitt, Sara Rasmussen, and Laddie Shaw had replaced a tattered Old Glory on Friday.
Shaw got the word this morning about the missing flag and raced to the top of Flattop, some 3,150 feet, to raise a new flag. On the way, he encountered a family with children. He waited for them to catch up with him at the top of Flattop.
“The kids were so disappointed when they got there because they had come to see the flag and it was missing,” Shaw said. “I told them, ‘I’ve got one right here, and if you’ll help me we’ll raise it up.'”
The children and Rep. Shaw then hoisted the new flag together.
Shaw says he has no idea who would have stolen the flag over the weekend, but the concept of stealing an American flag from the popular Anchorage hiking destination mystifies him.
“It’s our flag. It’s a symbol of who we are,” he said. “But you will never beat me with that flag. I buy 52 a year, and I’ll put one up a week if I have to. I buy them by the dozen,” said Shaw, who is a retired Navy SEAL.
