SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Boy Brings Back Flag and Collects Reward

First there were telephone calls of support, then came television crews.

At San Onofre State Beach, fellow surfers told Jim Curwood that they had heard about his missing American flag.

Then a teen-age boy wandered into Curwood’s bicycle shop Thursday with a question.

“He asked me if he brought the flag back in, would he get the reward money,” Curwood said. “He brought the flag in later, I gave him the money and out the door he went.”

So the case of the missing flag, a family heirloom flown in support of the Gulf War but stolen from the bicycle shop Monday, has ended. The boy got his $150 reward, just as Curwood had promised, with no questions asked.

“A lot of people were appalled that I paid him. One guy even offered to beat him up,” Curwood said. “But to me, you have to make it worth their while if you want the flag back. These kids might have taken it, then they might not have, who knows?”

All that really matters is that the flag is back, Curwood said. It was wrapped up and presented to Curwood’s wife, Carol, as a Valentine’s Day present.

But it is not going back outside the shop. The cotton flag, an antique with only 48 stars, will stay home. A new nylon one now flies outside, he said.

“The response from the people was greatly appreciated,” Curwood said. “It restored my faith in the public.”