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Police investigators are still trying to figure out who burned an American flag that belonged a family in South Ogden. The family, who is black, had just come home from working at a polling station on Election Day. They put the flag in the front yard to celebrate Barack Obama's victory. A short while later, it was on fire.
The Toles may have lost their first flag, but now they have 16 flags outside of their home, thanks to friends, neighbors and complete strangers. They say they never knew just how many people out here cared for them especially after today's vigil.
Neighbors, strangers and church members prayed outside the Toles' South Ogden home this afternoon in front of the sign that says it all: Love Your Neighbors.
Neighbor Paula Pilley said, "It tears my heart out that they would not know her and judge her and think that she's a bad person, and she is so kind and so sweet, so loving."
During the prayer, church leaders asked for peace and understanding, and they prayed for whoever burned the first flag that led to all of this.
Debbie Toles said, "This meant everything to me. It means ... because I was scared, I know I was scared, but I'm not anymore."
A lot of people would be angry after having their flag burn, but the Toles family says they're not angry anymore.
Debbie says, "I hope that it touches the person that did it, that they can feel, hopefully, this shows them something. I don't want them to feel stupid about it either, I want them to feel good about it. Just stop being angry."
Now because of the burn flag there are new friends, strangers who aren't strangers anymore and a sense that they're not alone.
A big negative has been turned into an even bigger positive. Donna says, "What they did was they did a wonderful thing, they ... they just changed it. God can take and make it good and that's what he did."
And while they say they don't feel any hatred at all toward whoever did this, the South Ogden Police Department is still investigating this crime, but they admit solving something like this is a difficult crime to solve.
E-mail: acabrero@ksl.com
