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LEHI — Like any day on the job, the Parker family's day starts with a commute.
Luckily for the five siblings, their drive is just around the block. That's because their neighbors are their clients. Even though the drive is short, the siblings said days can be long.
"We have to set up 113 flags every home game so it takes a couple of hours," Ben Parker said.
The Parker siblings are such hardcore BYU Cougar fans, they started a business renting and installing BYU flags in front yards.
The siblings put the flags up and later that night they take them down. They get a $30 donation from each customer per season. Which is why when they realized some were stolen, it was very tough to take.
"It's frustrating because we work really hard setting them up, taking them down," Ben Parker said.
They said for the past three home games, flags have gone missing. The only evidence left behind: pieces of PVC.
"We saw one and we were like, ‘Oh, maybe it was just the wind because it was pretty windy that night.’ But then, when we saw a couple more and saw that they were completely shattered, there's no way that it would just be the wind," Carolyn Parker said.
The group is out almost $200, money they'll have to make up with hard work — work they're willing to put in. Work they wished the vandals considered before breaking down their flags.
"Think about someone else besides yourself and what you're doing because other people have put time and effort into this project, and it means a lot to us," Carolyn Parker said.
Because of these incidents, the family will now be taking the flags down earlier in the evening before it gets dark — which in most cases is before the BYU games even end. All the family wants is for the vandals to return the flags.
Contributing: Xoel Cardenas
