Saturday, August 5, 2000
By SYDNEY B. LEAVENS

LUDLOW   —   It seemed like a perfectly staged crime, and one that left the town's veterans agent baffled. Twelve flags were reported missing early this week from Island Pond Cemetery, and 18 had disappeared without a trace the week before.

"It didn't seem right to steal the flags after we advertised the last theft," veterans agent Michael A. Lombard said. "I thought we were dealing with someone who was real defiant."

In fact, the suspects were so bold, they never left the scene of the crime. Squirrels, perched in four nests around the cemetery, had been taking the flags off veterans' graves to warm their young. Using a bit of detective work and a conveniently situated bucket truck, Lombard and VFW Commander William Shea solved the crime spree. Lombard said he began to suspect animal involvement when he noticed that the pattern of missing flags did not seem rational.

"Where there were two flags side by side, one would be missing and one would not," he said. "A human wouldn't leave one flag."

Lombard and Shea used a DPW cherry picker to peer in the smallest of the four nests, and found about 12 flags. Shea said it is not the first time he's seen flags taken by animals, but it is the first time that they have left the poles intact.

Mike Nadeau, owner of Nature's Creatures, a wildlife handling service in Springfield, agreed that the situation was strange.

"They're tough animals to deal with when they want to be," he said.

Lombard said he has been advised to spray Ropel, a hot sauce, on the flags to discourage the squirrels from taking them in the future.

"When they bite the cloth, it will be like eating jalapeno peppers," he said. "We're trying to do it in the most humane way possible, without doing any trapping."

In the meantime, a poster on Lombard's door reads: "Wanted: Rocky J. Squirrel for questioning in the theft of 50 American flags."
© 2000 UNION-NEWS