Poor Stanley Hansen. Betsy Ross' creation holds strong for 200-plus years and his is forgotten in 60?

The flag was hung in the City Council chambers in July 1948, according to a Journal Times article. Fifty designs were submitted for a contest held by American Legion Post 76, and the 18-year-old Hansen won.

The flag has a white background and "bears the symbols of a plow, an anchor, an anvil, two working men, a spread eagle and a flaming torch". The county's historian at the time drafted an official interpretation of the symbols.

Most, like the workers and the plow, are self-explanatory pieces of the city's history. The eagle stands for freedom. The torch lights "the path which leads to the solution of social problems which may lie ahead," the historian, Charles M. Christensen, said.

The staff at Dover Flag & Map said they used to sell some of the smaller versions of the flag, so I'm sure there are still a fair amount floating around. But few people I asked at City Hall even knew it existed. All I could find were a couple of miniature ones on aldermen's desks in the Council chambers.

Why do Mount Pleasant and Caledonia bank in Kenosha and Racine County in Milwaukee? That's where we're told to send our taxes. Can't our municipalities support our local banks?

That's a common misconception. They do support local banks, officials assured me.

The villages of Caledonia and Mount Pleasant each use Johnson Bank for tax collection. The Kenosha address is just its processing center, officials said. Mount Pleasant also does business with the Bank of Elmwood.

Racine County works with local Wells Fargo branches despite the fact the payments are mailed to a Milwaukee mailing address, County Treasurer Betty Majeski said.

Is there a place in Burlington where I can take papers to be shredded?

"The den," someone always likes to respond. But these questions are usually from people whose stacks of sensitive paper would crush the spirit of the Little Desk Shredder That Could.

Educators Credit Union just released its schedule of public shredding days, so I'll start there. The Burlington branch, 448 Falcon Ridge, has a shredding event planned June 20 from 9 a.m. to noon. People can bring up to five boxes or 100 pounds, Senior Vice President Jim Henderson wrote in an e-mail.

Here are the dates for similar events at other Educators branches in Racine County: May 16 and Sept. 12, 1400 N. Newman Road in Mount Pleasant; June 13, 1300 90th St. in Sturtevant; Aug. 15, 3525 Rapids Drive in Racine. Hours for those are also 9 a.m. to noon.

Pass along other options if you know 'em.

Does anyone have the photo proofs from the Charles studio that operated in Racine in the 1930s and '40s?

The reader is hoping to find photos of his late wife to help prepare a collage for his grandson. If any reader knows how to find them, please let me know.

Mike Moore compiles the Glad You Asked column, which seeks answers to questions of local interest. Call us at (262) 631-1758 or e-mail:

ask@journaltimes.com