At the Berlin Mayor and Council meeting last week, We Heart Berlin founder Tony Weeg presented the town’s public works director, Jimmy Charles, with a check for four new flag poles.
Representatives of American Legion Post #123 are pictured presenting Berlin leadership with a donation of $7,500 to fund replacement flag poles at the town’s memorial plaza at the corner of Main and West streets.
File photo
By Tara Fischer, Staff Writer
At the Berlin Mayor and Council’s Monday, Aug.12 meeting, We Heart Berlin founder Tony Weeg presented the town’s public works director, Jimmy Charles, with a check for four new flag poles.
On June 26, Berlin American Legion Post #123 provided the town with $7,500 to replace the flag poles at the Main and West Streets war memorial sites. Now, thanks to the financial contributions from the veteran’s organization and a private donor totaling $15,000, two new flag poles are set to be purchased and installed in the remembrance area and two at the Tripoli Street entrance of Stephen Decatur Park.
The updates are part of a plan to beautify the community’s parks and areas of significance.
“Our goal is to help embellish all the parks in town…,” Weeg said on June 26. “We are beyond excited.”
Charles noted that the flagpole initiative has been in the works for a year and a half. Including the legion funds for the initial replacement, the town has collected $15,000 in donations and used We Heart Berlin, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group dedicated to improving recreational activities for residents, as a place to deposit the financial gifts.
“We are going to put the poles up a little higher, and they will be much stronger,” the public works director said.
Weeg attended the August 12 meeting to officially present the check to purchase the four additional flag posts.
The old poles at the memorial are 20 feet long and made of fiberglass; as a result, they have begun to see some wear and tear. The new structures, two at the war site and two at Stephen Decatur Park, will extend 30 feet and be built with heavy-duty material to withstand coastline wind. Charles added that the post’s satin finish will be rust-preventative.
“Jimmy’s vision is that when you come down North Main, you’ll see the flags,” Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall said.