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San Juan Capistrano : Stolen Flag Replaced, Thanks to Lawmaker

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After a year’s absence, the state flag of California again whips in the breeze over the city’s branch of the Orange County Library, which finally obtained a replacement for the flag stolen during the 1984 Olympic Games.

In a brief ceremony Tuesday, state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) presented the library with the red-and-white state flag that, along with a U.S. flag, is now protected against theft by a padlock on the flagpole.

Head librarian Emily Jackson said the padlock was installed last year after the theft, which she speculated might have been the work of a tourist in search of a souvenir.

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“We had meant to get a padlock before it happened, but hadn’t done it,” she said. “We just didn’t think anyone would want to steal the flag.”

The library “did without” a California flag, Jackson said, until about two months ago, when a library employee telephoned Bergeson requesting that the senator donate the flag.

Legislators frequently receive requests to donate state flags, said Julie Froeberg, Bergeson’s chief-of-staff, but at $16 each--legislators must pay for the flags themselves--not as many are given away as are asked for.

“If she had to do it every week it could get financially burdensome,” Froeberg said.

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