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April 3, 2010

Flags flying again at Ygnacio Valley library

Ygnacio Valley Library is once again flying the American and California flags after the automatic flag pole, which had been malfunctioning for quite some time, was converted to a manual flag pole. 

Cindy Brittain, the senior community library manager for the Walnut Creek and Ygnacio Valley Libraries, said a mechanism in the automatic flag pole was "jammed up." This is according to a  contractor that Contra Costa County hired to fix or convert the pole.

A reader told me that the flag pole has not been flying flags for quite some time. Brittain says that she could not find any record at the Ygnacio Valley Library on when the flag pole ceased to work. The previous library manager, who had been working there since the 1990s, didn't have any idea either.

"Most people, including some of the library staff, didn’t notice the flagpole. It kind of blended in with the nearby tree until we got the tree limbs trimmed back last year," Brittain says.

The flag pole went up the same time as the library in 1975. It could sense dark and rain and automatically take in the flags at night or wet weather. "When the sun came out again, so did the flags," says Brittain.
 
She adds that she had no idea there was such a thing as an automatic flag pole until she started looking into why the Ygnacio Valley Library flag pole had no flags.

Because the contractor could not fix the faulty mechanism, the county decided to convert it to a manual flag pole.

"It will take us a little time to raise and lower it each day but at last the flags are flying again," Brittain says.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stimulus money finally arrives in WC!

Anonymous said...

Somewhat amazing that it took them
all these years to hit on the idea
of making this a manuel operation.
You would think this would have been one of the first solutions.

Nancy W. Stevens said...

Flag Etiquette allows for the flag ro remain flying through all weather and darkness IF a light shines up on it. How about putting such a light on the ground? Probably a nominal cost.