Cotati flap over flag-less flagpole
Greg Karraker, at the Cotati Veterans Memorial Park, is part of a group of citizens who want the flagpole to be fixed and outfitted with a flag.
KENT PORTER / The Press DemocratPublished: Monday, September 6, 2010 at 1:49 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, September 6, 2010 at 1:49 p.m.
The empty flagpole at Cotati's center stands nearly as tall as three redwood trees planted in the same little grass triangle flanked by three streets.
It hasn't displayed a flag since the mechanism to raise and lower it broke two years ago.
That makes Greg Karraker really mad.
“The largest flagpole in the heart of town, to have it empty sends a signal of deep disrespect for this country,” said Karraker, 61.
And he's already put out that Mayor Robert Coleman-Senghor won't explain why he doesn't say the “Pledge of Allegiance” or place his hand on his heart while it is said.
“It was his refusal to salute the flag that made the absence of the flag obvious to me,” Karraker said. “It is symptomatic of the way the City Council thinks, that some of the most basic necessities that should be provided by city government are being neglected.”
So for months, at virtually every council meeting, Karraker, who lives just outside city, has asked the city to replace the flag.
City officials point out that three other city-owned poles fly American flags, one right across the street from the bare pole at Rancho Adobe Fire District's Cotati station.
Besides, they say, the city is wrestling with a tight budget and areas, such as the Police Department, take precedence.
But Karraker, unsatisfied, decided to raise the money himself to pay for the job. The city estimated the cost at $2,500, including lighting and equipment to install the flag.
“I got kind of ticked off and said, ‘If you won't fix it I will, and I'll make it kind of embarrassing for you,'
He set up a website to raise the funds. Its home page reads: “The Mayor and City Council won't fix the flagpole in downtown Cotati. But you can.”
Prue Draper, Cotati's unofficial historian, sort of agrees with Karraker — to her surprise.
She is not a fan of him or his political comrades, who include former Councilman George Barich, who is running again for the council this fall.
“He's using it as a knife into the back of the City Council, just because they like to stab them however they can,” she said of Karraker and his allies.
Still, she said of the flagpole, “I think the thing should have a flag. It was important to Cotati's history.”
The pole was erected after World War I by the now-extinct American Legion Post 103 to honor those who served in the war, Draper said. A cannon was put there too, but it went to the scrap drive in World War II to be recycled for the war effort, she said.
“If he were handling it in a really good, traditional Cotati way,” she said, “he would have a big fund-raiser downtown and talk a bunch of caterers and a bunch of entertainers to come in and have a big festival to raise the money.”
Councilwoman Susan Harvey welcomed an effort to get the flag flying again.
“I applaud the citizens group that is putting together a fundraiser to help us,” she said.
But the city has to set is priorities, she said.
“There's more pressing needs that we've been looking at,” she said, noting Cotati has beefed up its allocation to the Police Department.
“Those services are the kinds of things that in looking out for the citizens, and in terms of Measure A (a half-cent sales tax voters approved in April), it's restoration of services that the city would like to see,” she said.
Passers-by had a range of opinions.
“I think the city should do it, even with all the budget concerns I'm sure they can find it (the money), and I think it would be well spent,” said George Gowdod of Cotati. “If they realize how much concern there is from the citizens, they should take another look.”
Christina Allison, 46, of Rohnert Park said the empty pole didn't indicate a lack of patriotism on the city's part.
“The flag itself does not make a patriot,” she said.
Mayor Coleman-Senghor, in response to Karraker's criticism, said his reasons for what he does or doesn't do during the pledge are his own business.
“How do you test for patriotism,” Coleman-Senghor said, pointing out he was a Marine for four years and had marched for civil rights. “There is a private, personal reason that I do what I do. I have been doing it since I was 18, even when I was in the military.”
Of the flagpole controversy, he said, “This is really something manufactured by someone who does not live in Cotati and it's just a political ploy.”
You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 521-5212 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com
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