Laredo: Flagpole touted as tallest in U.S. to be dedicated today

It is slightly taller than the Statue of Liberty and is destined to become a landmark.

Not far from the Rio Grande, a 308-foot flagpole flying a 50-by-100-foot United States flag is to be dedicated in Laredo on Memorial Day in honor of the men and women who have served this country.

"This is the Laredo National Bank's way of saying thank you to all members of the U.S. military, be they active duty, retired, veterans, National Guard, reserve," said Gary Jacobs, president and chief executive officer of Laredo National Bank, which paid for the project.

The effort also includes a flag park that will have flags representing every country, with the U.S. flag as its centerpiece. The park is being built.

Although Mr. Jacobs wouldn't say how much the flagpole project cost, a published report put the price at $300,000.

The bank was inspired to pursue the project after Laredo's sister city of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, erected a flagpole and Mexican flag in 1998. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the project took on new meaning.

The Laredo flag project in the parking lot of the bank's motor branch less than two blocks north of the Lincoln Juárez International Bridge is expected to boast the tallest stand-alone flagpole in the United States. The flagpole was engineered and manufactured by Fort Worth-based Flags USA.

"If you're coming from Monterrey [Mexico] to Laredo you'll see both flags," Mr. Jacobs said. "And, if you're coming from [Interstate 35] south on the freeway toward Nuevo Laredo, you'll see both flags."

The flag's dedication couldn't have come at a better time in light of Sept. 11, said Jesus E. Cantu, the Webb County veterans service officer. There are about 8,800 veterans living in the county.

A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Cantu said, he could see the flag flying from his office during a test. He called it majestic.

"Any veteran who goes away from this country and comes back, that's the first thing you look for when you come back to American soil," Mr. Cantu said. "You know you're home when you see that flag."

Additional story but no pictures.......

Laredo to fly own U.S. flag landmark

BY PAUL S. MARTINEZ
Times staff writer

Soon, the awesome site of two giant flags-one Mexican, the other American-will meet people driving south on I-35 flying on each side of the border.
The tallest flagpole in the U.S. was erected in Laredo Sunday afternoon. Laredo National Bank, which put up the $300,000 to build the giant flagpole, is placing the pole at a LNB bank location at the San Dario/Matamoros intersection near International Bridge II.
The giant flagpole, which weighs 52 tons, stands 308-feet high and flies 100-foot by 50-foot flag, was completed Sunday.
The flagpole builders said the official flag-raising will be at a special Memorial Day ceremony, but they planned to raise a flag Tuesday morning to test the new pole.
Nuevo Laredo has a 120-ton flagpole that stands 340 feet high and flies a 165-ft. by 95-ft. flag that was erected in 1998.
Though the Nuevo Laredo flagpole is taller and there flag is bigger, flagpole designer Steve Symonds said Laredo's giant flagpole would be better.
"It's like comparing a pencil and paper to a computer," he said.
Some of the innovations on the Laredo flagpole include a 5-foot diameter rotating ball at the top of the pole, which will allow the flag to fly with the wind.
A two-horsepower winch will raise the flag cable, which will be imbedded in the pole. And two beacons will light up at night high atop the pole.
Symonds, a man who has been erecting flagpoles for 29 years, said his crew of six men, plus the crane operators, have been working on the flagpole for the past two and a half months.
The first step in building the giant flagpole was the foundation. For the foundation, Symonds' company, Flags USA, dug a 27-foot deep and 15-foot diameter area of the parking lot and filled it with 200 yards of concrete-each yard of concrete weighing four tons.
In the middle of that area, they inserted a cylinder that is 27 feet deep and 7 feet in diameter.
The first of five flagpole sections, which is 5 feet in diameter, was placed in the cylinder. And then, 22 yards (about two dump truck loads) of sand filled in the gap, securing the base of the flagpole.
Then, the next four sections of the pole-each between 35 and 40 feet in length-were put in place.
Each section reduced in diameter as to fit in place like a puzzle- 5 feet in diameter at the base, 16 inches in diameter at the top.
At the very top, there is a 5-foot diameter ball that will allow the flag to rotate and house the two beacon lights. When the beacon lights burn out, Symonds said the lights would be changed by helicopter.
"Allowing the flag to fly with the wind, will help the flags last longer," Symonds said, adding that each flag costs about $5,500.
Flag USA finished erecting the pole, but still has to paint it. Symonds said it's going to take about 25 gallons of paint to cover the whole structure.
Symonds, who erected a 311-foot flagpole in Monterrey, Mexico, said the tallest flagpole in the U.S. prior to Laredo's was a 232-foot-tall flagpole in Birmingham, Ala.
"This will be the largest flag, flying on the tallest flag pole in the country," Symonds said.
Symonds said LNB President Gary Jacobs and his associate Col. Rod Heney are responsible for the new landmark of Los Dos Laredos.
"People are going to say (Jacobs) did it for advertising, but really I think he did it for all of us," Symonds said.
(Staff writer Paul S. Martinez can be reached at 728-2585 or by e-mail at paulm@lmtonline.com.)

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Laredo to fly own U.S. flag landmark

BY PAUL S. MARTINEZ Times staff writer

BY PAUL S. MARTINEZ
Times staff writer