American Pride In

Sandy Hook Center

By Shannon Hicks

Like Main Street before it, and even the center of Brookfield before that, Sandy Hook Center is now host to a few dozen American flags mounted on utility poles. The arrival of the flags adds a touch of patriotic pride just in time for Independence Day and, says project organizer Sharon Doherty, now that they are up, the flags will make annual summer appearances.

Mrs Doherty said this week she remembered driving up Main Street a couple months ago, after Newtown Lions Club had returned their set of American flags to the utility poles along that stretch of Route 25, and thinking, “We can’t we do this in Sandy Hook?”

This was shortly before the annual Great Pootatuck Duck Race, she said, which would have been a few weeks before Memorial Day weekend. While Mrs Doherty would have liked to have had American flags on utility poles in Sandy Hook Center in time for this year’s Duck Race on May 28, the effort took a little longer than she anticipated. Nevertheless, about 18 three- by five-foot American flags were installed on the poles along the lower section of Church Hill Road on Monday, June 27. The flags begin just past the I-84 overpass (opposite Walnut Tree Hill Road), and continue for just shy of a half-mile, to the bottom of the hill.

The first set of flags were installed on Monday, June 27, on Church Hill Road. Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue Firefighters George Lockwood, Jr, and Karl “Billy” Sieling, Jr, spent a few hours putting the first 18 flags into place, and were expected to finish the project — adding flags to short spans of Washington Avenue, Riverside Road, and Glen Road — by the end of the week.

Work on bringing the American spirit into Sandy Hook Center began in May, when Mrs Doherty contacted Mike Burton. The president of Sandy Hook Organization for Prosperity (SHOP), Mr Burton’s permission to move forward was the first thing she wanted to secure.

“Mike thought it was a fantastic idea, he just wanted to make sure we brought it up at the next SHOP meeting,” said Mrs Doherty. “He wanted to hear opinions from other business owners, and let them voice any concerns.”

“I thought it was a great idea,” Mr Burton confirmed this week. “We’ve reformed SHOP, and everyone has been working together. One of our main ideas is to get Sandy Hook better looking and this was right in line with that.”

The subject was addressed during the June 7 SHOP meeting, “and everybody was in favor of it,” Mrs Doherty said. Most people, she added, also offered to help pay for the flags and the brackets needed to mount them on the poles.

“Everyone was very supportive of it,” Mr Burton added. “I’ve already heard a lot of positive comments this week now that they’re going up, too.”

Mrs Doherty and her husband Dan are the owners of PJ’s Laundromat in Sandy Hook. They, like other SHOP members, are active in the ongoing revitalization efforts of the business district.

Prior to the June meeting, Mrs Doherty began making inquiries.

“Not everyone can make it to every SHOP meeting, so I checked with the business owners before the meeting to see what they thought of the idea,” she said. She also contacted AT&T, CL&P, and the Department of Transportation for the necessary approvals.

“It was a process, to get through all that,” she said.

While Mike Kerler, the owner of Sandy Hook Wine & Liquor, had not heard anything from his customers by Wednesday afternoon concerning the new addition to Sandy Hook Center (“It’s still a little early. I’m not sure that people even realize they’re there yet,” he said), he was happy that the project had moved forward.

“I thought it was a great idea, just fantastic, when Sharon mentioned it,” he said. “I’m glad we went ahead with it.”

Mrs Doherty also spoke with members of Newtown Lions Club, who offered advice they have gleaned since they began putting American flags on Main Street’s utility poles in 2009.

“They were such a great help, so willing to share information,” Mrs Doherty reported.

Mrs Doherty also credits Mike Sorrentino, the owner of Newtown Hardware, with being a help.

“He gave us a nice discount on the flags, and ordered nice ones, which was a great help,” she said.

Sandy Hook Fire Chief Bill Halstead not only offered to donate toward the flags, but offered manpower when it was time to get them up.

“The whole point,” Mrs Doherty said, “is to just have it look nice in Sandy Hook Center.”

The flags will remain on the poles until just past Labor Day.

George Lockwood, Jr, said he and Mr Sieling were hearing positive comments when they were installing flags Monday.

“Everybody seems to like it. They’re all really happy,” he said while working on another installation, this time on Glen Road, Wednesday afternoon.