8 JUNE 17, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
City Councilman Robert Holden replacing fl ag with Glendale residents. Photo courtesy of Holden’s offi ce
CM Holden helps to replace Glendale
family’s vandalized American flag
BY JULIA MORO
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Councilman Robert Holden helped
replace a local family’s American
fl ag that was vandalized in
Glendale last week aft er it was ripped
down and left on the sidewalk.
The Pardue family has been putting
up the American flag on 84th
and Myrtle Avenue in front of their
house for about four years.
This year, Robert Pardue and his
friends put the flag up on Memorial
Day, and on June 6, the flag was
torn down, ripped up and left on
the sidewalk. A neighbors home
security camera was able to catch
it on video. The video shows a man
on a bike tearing the flag down and
leaving it.
“I’ve lived there my whole entire
life,” Pardue said. “We’re sick and
tired of our property, that we work
hard for, and what we stand for, like
the American flag, be torn down by
some punk.”
Pardue posted the footage on the
Glendale Civic Association Facebook
page and Holden’s office contacted
him that day to buy a new flag and
help put it back up.
“It’s a great tradition and so is
the patriotism in the district,”
Holden said. “We’ve seen a lot of anti-
American vandalism lately in the
district, from the attack on the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial in Elmhurst
to the attack on the flag. The kind
of neighborhood and district that I
represent, people stand up, they’re
not going to take that stuff.”
Steve Pardue, Robert Pardue’s
father, takes great pride in the
American flag and said he was hurt
by the vandalism.
“My father served. My uncle
served. My grandfather served,”
Steve Pardue said. “It’s because of
these men that we have the freedom
we have today. And for someone to
rip it down is despicable.”
Steve Pardue said he was
disappointed in the vandal’s response
to patriotism.
“It’s a different world we live in
today,” Steve Pardue said. “Nobody
respects the American flag. I don’t
agree with some flags, but I wouldn’t
touch someone else’s flag; that’s what
America’s about.”
The Pardue’s said they don’t have
any plans to stop the tradition, especially
since they have a new flag,
courtesy of Holden.
“No one’s stopping me,” Steve Pardue
said. “I keep an eye on that flag
real closely now.”
The new 6-foot-by-10-foot
American flag will stay up until
Labor Day.
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