The wind is one of those “Good News, Bad News” occurrences! For some areas the good news is that the wind will blow the fouled polluted air from your community to another unfortunate community downwind! I am sure we all remember “Egg City” and the stench that blew into Fillmore in the evening from the drying heaps of chicken manure! In Fillmore and all of Ventura County the local citrus crop can be damaged by the wind by scarring the fruit making it bad news when selling that crop!

For me the bad news about the constant wind we have been experiencing this year is that the wind has created havoc with my flying of the American Flag and the flags representing the the military services of my only Son, Phillip Diaz, and first born Grandson Michael O'Neal. Phillip is in the Navy and Michael the Army. The flags fray quickly because of the strong winds and on Tuesday, April 10th, in what turned out to be a very windy day, my 20' telescopic flag pole reached the end of it's life! The strong wind caused damaged a part inside of the telescopic pole which then separated the pole into two pieces! Not to worry though because today I went to Harbor Freight and bought another pole! Since I order my flags in quantity I always have a fresh flag to fly! So bring it on WIND!

In my travels around town I have noticed a number of other homes that proudly display the American Flag, or in some cases the flag of one of the military services. But, these homes are few! I have also noticed some perfectly good flag poles prominently displayed in the front yards of some homes without flags proudly flying from them. There is a house on lower Foothill with two substantial flagpoles in the front yard without flags! And, the flagpole at the FUSD Maintenance Yard remains empty after a controversy that I didn't really understand between employees and FUSD Administration regarding flying the American Flag and the POW Flag! If it had to do with the cost of maintaining the flags I will gladly purchase four American and four POW flags a year to fly again on that pole! If that isn't the problem then I hope whatever it was can be worked out and the flags can again fly proudly!

In addition to the Military Banners proudly on display in Fillmore, I would like to encourage the residents of Fillmore, as well as the FUSD Maintenance Yard employees, to at the minimum to start using existing flagpoles to proudly fly the American Flag as a sign of support for the men and women from our community that are currently serving and for those serving in the Middle East! I have to say that I feel guilty each day I move about Fillmore involved in my daily routine of riding my bicycle, motorcycle, meeting for coffee with friends and planning other activities that surround family and fun. I think nearly every day of those young men and women serving in the war zone and the sacrifices they and their families are making for all of us! I wish for them daily to come home safely to this community and to their families!

My Grandson Michael is currently serving in Afghanistan and my Son Phillip will be deploying in early June to Afghanistan. I am committed, despite the wind, to flying their military service flags below the American Flag until they both return home safely from their deployments! I encourage other residents and families of currently serving military members to fly their flags also as their show of support for their family members! I know Fillmore can do this! Let's all support our own American Heroes who have sacrificed so much for us all! Let's make Fillmore a standout community for the support of our troops by making it the norm to see the American Flag flying proudly from not only existing flag poles, but also from newly placed flag poles! If any readers would like to share a picture and story of their display of the American, or any service flag I would be honored to place a picture in the paper with your story. Please email me at dickdiaz@roadrunner.com and I will begin the story!