Volunteers repair Carson hill flag

Carson City residents can look up at a new, improved Old Glory thanks to some 60 volunteers who spent part of their sunny Saturday repairing the flag on "C" hill.

Flag repair organizer Dan Mooney put out the word several weeks ago for 40 volunteers to be divided up into 10 teams that would pull weeds, remove rocks, wash banner material and cut a fire break on the 60-degree slope.

"We think it was a big success," Mooney said. "We started around 10 and were done about 1:15."

Pascal Carpiaux was in charge of the weed pullers. "I was on the original committee to build the flag," he said.

"Originally, it all had to do with 9-11," Carpiaux said when asked why volunteers wanted to work on the project. "But the fad went away and there were more people from the community today, like scouts, veterans and foreigners who were just proud to be Americans."

Rick Waltz led a team of Boy Scouts from Troop 44 in removing pipe bolts.

Assistant Scout Master Bill Hartman said three adults and 15 boys from Troop 341 showed up early and couldn't wait to get going. "We started by pulling weeds under the flag and removing sharp rocks that tear it during high winds," Hartman said.

Senior Patrol Leader Duke Sanders led the volunteers in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

It wasn't all work. Gil Ayarbe led the preparation of lunch for the crew.

Meanwhile, Ephram Estrada was in charge of transporting volunteers and equipment as Greg Melton monitored radio communications. Mark Green led a team in replacing 2,080 screws to fasten the flag down while Bob Aiken conducted repairs.

Sara Buscay led a 13-member team in washing the banner material. And Josh Buscay modified the banner strip for the stars in the flag.

U.S. Forest Service officials also were on hand to watch the work.