"I think it's disgusting, absolutely terrible, that somebody would even bother putting up a flag like that," fumed Mr. Smith, a Jamesport resident who served in the U.S. Navy in the 1960s. "As a veteran, I think they should have taken that flag and burned it, not put it up on a pole for everybody to see."
The flag, mounted on a pole at the corner of South Jamesport Avenue, near the George Young Community Center, was torn along its edges, with one large, horizontal rip dividing it almost in two.
Federal law states that such a flag can no longer serve as a symbol of the U.S. and should be destroyed, though there's no penalty for violating the law.
It's not clear how Old Glory got to be in that condition, but officials from the Riverhead Town engineering department said they believed it was destroyed by Friday morning's strong winds.
None of the local business owners or passersby said that they'd seen the flag flying in that condition before.
"This is the first time I've noticed it like that," said Ellen Cinque of Riverhead, who was working in a shop across the street. Ms. Cinque said she'd never seen such a deteriorated flag in her life.
"That flag should be replaced," Fred Hills of Shelter Island said from the Valero gas station across the street. "[Flags should] never be allowed to deteriorate to the degree that this one has."
Reached Friday morning, Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter told the News-Review he would make sure it was taken care of immediately. By Friday afternoon the flag had been replaced.
"I'm not going to have an American flag flying in my town that's not perfect," Mr. Walter said. The old flag was taken to the VFW Hall in Riverhead, where it will be burned and disposed of properly, officials said.
vchinese@timesreview.com