Just as many North Texans are flying U.S. flags in anticipation of the Fourth of July, vandals are torching them in a far North Dallas neighborhood.
A pile of charred fabric is all that remains of the two flags that once flew outside Ed Jordan's house in a quaint cul-de-sac off Spring Valley and Preston roads.
"I think this border might have been the American flag," Jordan said as he sifted through the scorched remains.
On Friday, he hung a flag honoring his country and a flag honoring the Marine Corps he once served in. But he came home Monday to find a bare flagpole and singed shrubs, he said.
"It takes a pretty low-minded person to do something like that," Jordan said.
Vandals also burned the flag of a neighbor.
Dallas police are investigating both cases as arson.
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Jordan, who has flown flags for 12 years, said he has never had a problem until now. He said he wasn't sure if the burnings were a prank or someone trying to make a political statement.
"I really would have given them the flags if thatβs what they wanted, but I donβt think thatβs what they wanted," he said. "They wanted to destroy."
But Jordan said the vandals have not destroyed his patriotic spirit.
"Iβm not angry," he said. "Iβm going to get other flags and put them out there again."