- Lake Point Arts reported theft of 24 American flags from its 9/11 display.
- President Chaelea Allred expressed disappointment but received nearly $1,000 in donations.
- The group plans to replace flags and keep the display through Oct. 14.
LAKE POINT — Leaders of Lake Point Arts, a Tooele County nonprofit, are angry about American flags going missing from a 9/11 healing field.
The display at the corner of Saddleback Boulevard and Mountain View Road features 100 U.S. flags.
Chaelea Allred, the group's president, said she and other community members helped pay for the materials for the field. This is its second year.
"Something that has always been near to my near and dear to my heart is 9/11," Allred said. "I actually have an uncle that lives in Manhattan. I was in ninth grade when 9/11 happened, and I've seen a lot of memorials and a lot of healing fields that have been put together in honor of those who paid the ultimate price that day, and since then, in war."
She said her fellow Lake Point Arts committee members agreed they wanted a place where people could gather, reflect and appreciate the flag, what it means to them and reflect on what the country was like in the days following 9/11.
"We've put them up so that people could enjoy them as they drive by," she said.
Allred said she noticed about five flags were taken out of the fence line sometime last week.
"It made me sick to my stomach that someone would take a flag," she said. "We tried to believe that they genuinely needed it more than we did."
A few days later, on Saturday, Allred was told 19 more were gone.
"The lock was not broken on the gate, they (the thieves) had to climb the fence," she said. "They went to extreme measures to make it happen."
She said committee members checked to make sure none blew away or had burned.
"Some flags had been cut from their poles, and the poles had been left," Allred said.
Her first instinct was to take them all down.
"I called a dear friend, and he told me, 'If we take the flags down, then they win,'" she said.
Allred posted on social media, asking people to help with the nearly $400 worth of stolen materials.
"Within an hour, we probably received almost $1,000 worth of donations to provide new flags and new poles and rebar to support the flags in the ground," she said.
Allred hopes this is a teaching moment.
"The sacredness of our flag and what it stands for, and the people that have fought and paid the ultimate sacrifice so that people can steal our flags," she said. "I want it to be something that they realize that you don't vandalize people's property. If you're angry at our country, at what's going on, at local officials, you have a voice and to use it."
Allred said one neighbor caught a vehicle on camera sitting outside the field early Saturday.
She said they can't make out individuals or the make and model of the car.
Allred said they usually keep the flags up through September. This year, they plan to keep the flags through Oct. 14, which is conservative political activist Charlie Kirk's birthday. He was shot and killed in Orem on Sept. 10.
Allred said they'll be busy putting up new flags Monday. She said if people want to donate, they are accepting payments to @LakePointArts on Venmo.*
"I am happy to fill this entire field with flags," she said. "If people want to donate flags, we will put them up. There's more good out there than there is evil. And we're ready and willing to rise above and conquer."
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
