TRENTON, Maine — Where normally a large striped American flag can be seen on display day and night, there was nothing but the bare pole and a pile of cut rope Monday morning.
Someone stole the banner, which measures 20 feet high and 38 feet long, from Linnehan Homes on Route 3, officials said Monday.
John Linnehan, the owner of the business, has flown a large flag at his place of work for years — from the time his family owned and operated the Ford dealership in Bangor, through his tenure running Linnehan’s Credit Now used car dealership and now with the his home loan business.
Linnehan was unavailable Monday afternoon, but his personal assistant said the flag was taken sometime between Saturday night, when passers-by saw it flying at its familiar location, and Monday morning, when employees arrived and noticed it was gone.
Jenn Abbott said someone seems to have stacked up some cinder blocks to reach the clete, where the rope was knotted about 7 feet off the ground, and simply cut the rope. Four other smaller flags mounted on smaller surrounding poles — three American flags and one State of Maine flag — were untouched.
The large flag by itself weighs 40 pounds, which would have made it difficult to gather up and carry, Abbott said.
“I think it might be the biggest flag in the state of Maine,” she said. “Whoever took it must have had help.”
Abbott posted a message on the business’ Facebook page, publicizing the theft and asking the public’s help in getting it returned. She said the post had been up for only a few hours but already had been shared on the online social media service more than 600 times.
The Facebook post indicates Linnehan is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whoever took the flag. Anyone with information can call Linnehan’s business at 812-8558 or email jenn@linnehanhomes.com, or they can call Maine State Police at 973-3700.
Trooper Caleb McGary is investigating the theft for state police agency. He said Monday that the timing of the incident has touched a nerve with many people.
“There’s been a big outcry from the community because of Memorial Day coming up,” he said.
McGary said police have not yet developed any leads, but they are hopeful someone saw something suspicious at the business or has seen the flag somewhere since Saturday night. A flag that size is likely to draw attention, especially if it is unfurled.
“It’s not like you’re going to hang it at your camp this weekend and no one is going to know,” the trooper said.
According to Abbott, the cost of replacing the flag would be $1,238, plus the cost of replacing the rope on the pole. She said that if the flag is not recovered quickly, Linnehan expects to purchase a new flag with the same dimensions and to have it flying above Route 3 in time for the holiday.
“To put [another flag] back up will be quite expensive,” she said.
