State Sen. Al McAffrey, D-Oklahoma City, awoke Saturday morning to find tatters of the charred banner in the front yard of his home in the city's Mesta Park neighborhood. McAffrey said the flag was set alight while at full staff because of the location of scorch marks on the pole.
A large American flag flying outside the home of a state senator was burned overnight.
“It had to have been more than one person because you can't reach it from the ground,” he said.
The flag — which McAffrey said was larger than the one flown at the state House — is a particular point of pride, since he had served four years in the Navy, two of which were with the Marine Corps as a Navy Corpsman.
“A flag should never be burned anytime, but this is a special weekend. Whoever did this doesn't have much respect for freedom in America is what I say,” McAffrey said.
“If it's a prank, it's not a very fun prank,” he said.
Some grass was scorched where the embers fell, but no other damage was reported.
“The other thing that scared me is that our flagpole is close to our house. My concern is that we have grandchildren that come over,” he said.
McAffrey's home is more than 100 years old and more than 3,200 square feet. Since moving into the neighborhood in 2004, he's never had trouble of this kind, he said.
“We keep it up there all time. I'm very proud of that, but someone wasn't,” he said.
McAffrey said he purchased another flag Saturday to replace the one that was burned.
