
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 19, 1991                   TAG: 9103190535
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                                LENGTH: Short

NEWPORT NEWS MAKES UP FOR FLAGPOLE GOOF

City Hall isn't always right, and on those few occasions when it's wrong, you might even get a new flagpole for your troubles. Just ask 81-year-old George Hand.

"It's a happy ending. No hard feelings," Hand said Monday as a city crew began erecting a 24-foot fiberglass flagpole in his front yard.

Hand had the original, 21-foot pole taken down because inspector Avis Bolling of the city's Codes Compliance Department told him it was illegal.

She was wrong. Hand was one of four residents wrongly cited by Bolling for having flagpoles without permits.

Asked whether Bolling was disciplined for the mistake, Codes Compliance Director Clarence Diersing responded, "Nothing more than a good lecture."

The problem began when Bolling told Hand that because he never got a permit for his flagpole, he had 10 days to buy one - at a cost of $20 - or take down the pole.

Then the city found out that Hand's flagpole had been erected 13 years before a state law that required permits to build any structure higher than 12 feet. So the decoration he had enjoyed for 30 years was legal.

Unfortunately for Hand, it also was gone.

Hand was asked if he would accept an apology gift: a newer, bigger flagpole and 5-by-9-foot flag. Hand accepted.

by CNB