Tracy Hanson, of 651 East Seventh St.

Thursday, September 20, 2001

Tracy Hanson, of 651 East Seventh St., is full of anger and sorrow, after somebody took away the Stars and Stripes from her front porch.

&uot;I cannot believe why. This is the worst time for disgracing our national pride,&uot; said Hanson.

While more and more houses in Albert Lea have been showing their support and patriotism by hoisting the national flag after the terrorism attacks on Sept. 11, the exasperating thieves have also become rampant.

The Albert Lea Police received four reports of missing flags Tuesday alone. And it is believed there could be many more unreported cases.

Hanson found the flag missing Tuesday morning. She had taken the full-size flag out from the garage, and had flown it on a metal pole last Friday.

&uot;It was about five years old and had frayed edges. But we loved and felt proud of it, especially after the tragedy,&uot; said Hanson.

Marc Burgdorf, of 806 James Ave., shares the same feeling with Hanson.

Right after the attacks he bought a flag and displayed it beside the front entrance of his house. Neighbors noticed on Tuesday that the ensign was gone. At least two neighbors had lost their flags prior to him, according to Burgdorf.

Denouncing the thieves as &uot;cowards,&uot; Burgdorf said, &uot;If it was not now, the stealing would not be a big deal, but now is the time for us to show any support for our country and troops. The flag was my little expression of it.&uot;

The victims of flag thefts have to experience another frustration if they try to buy a new one – Burgdorf went to Wal-Mart and found empty shelves.

The giant retail chain sold 160,000 flags on the day of attacks nationwide, while the average daily sales are about 13,000, according to assistant manager Shane Treslan.

Every type of American flag, except table banners, was gone from the Albert Lea store several days after last Tuesday. Some orders of large quantity, such as the one from the County Sheriff’s Office looking for 200 flags, could simply not be satisfied.

&uot;We never had this situation even on the Fourth of July,&uot; said Ron Farris, assistant manager of Rainbow Foods. Though a new shipment arrived last Friday, the shop still does not have popular three-feet long and five-feet wide Stars and Stripes.

The police said there’s no likely association between the shortage and flag thefts.

&uot;It is hard to see any patriotic citizen waving a stolen flag,&uot; said Dwaine Winkels, assistant chief of the ALPD. Instead, the police consider a teenager committing the thefts just for personal fun as a possible suspect profile.