Patriotic good Samaritan saves July 4th tradition

About 40 little American flags line Laurena Fisher’s front lawn — one for each year she’s lived in the Oak Hills neighborhood.

“Each year, the realtor comes out and puts one on the corner, and I just kept collecting them so I decided to put them all out,” Fisher said.

Suzanne Burr is the area realtor who’s been putting out hundreds of American flags in this neighborhood for 27 years. She said she was taken back when she found out most of them were stolen on Saturday.

“But I just couldn’t figure out why would you steal them, what would be the purpose?” she said.

The thefts are especially puzzling, considering the area. Burr says Oak Hills is a nice, family oriented neighborhood

“A lot of people know each other,” said Burr. “A lot of people go for walks. You’ll see people walking with their children.”

Those who live in the area know that crime isn’t something that happens too often.

“Yeah, it shocked me when you told me that, because we haven’t had any problems like that,” said Fisher.

On Sunday afternoon, Burr got a phone call from a man visiting the area who says he saw that the flags were stolen and decided to do something about it.

“And he walked in — I had my clients in here by then — he walked in and his arms were full of flags, and said, here ya go,” said Burr.

The man had purchased a few hundred new American flags for Burr to put back out in the neighborhood, just in time for Independence Day. Now, Laurena Fisher’s collection continues to grow.

“I think it’s very, really nice that he did that,” she said.

ORIGINAL STORY: For nearly 30 years, a local realtor has celebrated July 4th by placing U.S. flags along sidewalks and driveways in the Oak Hills neighborhood of North Monterey County. Sometime Saturday night, someone stole the flags.

“But I just couldn’t figure it out, why would you steal them,” said Suzanne Burr, local realtor in the area, “what would be the purpose.”

Especially considering the area, according to Burr, Oak Hills is a family oriented neighborhood.

“A lot of people know each other, a lot of people go for walks, you’ll see people walking with their children,” said Burr.

But on Sunday afternoon, Burr had gotten a phone call from a man visiting the area, who said he saw that the flags were stolen and decided to do something about it.

“And he walked in, I had my clients in here by then, he walked in and his arms were full of flags and he said, ‘here ya go!’,” said Burr, “I couldn’t believe it, a perfect stranger would do that.”

The man went and bought a few hundred new American flags for Burr to put back out in the neighborhood, just in time for Independence Day.