Safety cameras have been put in on a Cape Cod bridge honoring a fallen Marine after his mom suffered a number of heartbreaks when she noticed repeated destruction of American flags on the span.
Jane Donovan says her calls for for accountability have become a trigger for celebration, with the state putting in a safety system earlier this week on the Lance Cpl. William Joseph Donovan Jr. Memorial Bridge after the latest vandalism.
The Yarmouth Police Division responded to the bridge early Monday morning after receiving studies that a number of flags had been destroyed and ripped from the fencing, tearing aside the double-stitched seams and grommets.
State Rep. Steven Xiarhos reached out to the Massachusetts State Police and Gov. Maura Healey, informing them of the destruction. Inside 24 hours after cameras and different safety tools have been ordered to be placed on the bridge, it occurred, the Cape Cod lawmaker informed the Herald on Thursday.
“What a blessing,” Jane Donovan informed the Herald in a telephone interview. “It’s just an unbelievable blessing that this happened so quickly, and I really do believe that we have to focus on the good.”
The destruction earlier this week got here only a month after eight flags have been vandalized and positioned the other way up on the bridge.
Talking with the Herald following that incident, Donovan mentioned she wished to see visitors cameras put in on the overpass to assist legislation enforcement seize any future culprits and put an finish to the troubling sample.
The bridge honors William Joseph Donovan Jr., a U.S. Marine who obtained two Purple Coronary heart medals in 2011 for accidents suffered throughout Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. He died in 2015 at age 27 in a deadly motorbike crash in Canton.
The state Legislature designated the bridge, spanning Route 6, in his honor in 2017.
Since then, the overpass has sustained vandalism all through the years. A bridge signal and flags had beforehand been destroyed and eliminated, whereas nobody was held accountable, Donovan mentioned.
The Quincy lady added that she has not obtained any updates on the investigation into final month’s destruction. The Yarmouth PD ramped up patrols of all overpasses within the mid-Cape city after the July incident.
“If they dare do it again, they will be caught. I am sure of that,” Donovan mentioned. “Because with the camera in place, and there are more police in the neighborhood, hopefully nobody will dare to do it again.”
“It’s just so disrespectful and so dishonoring,” she added, “not just to my son but to every veteran.”
Xiarhos shares Donovan’s ache. The Cape Cod Republican misplaced his son on the age of 21 in a roadside bombing in Helmand province, Afghanistan, in 2009.
Xiarhos’ son, Nicholas G. Xiarhos, who served as a Marine corporal, and William Donovan grew to become shut buddies, with the 2 graduating collectively from Dennis-Yarmouth Regional Excessive Faculty in 2006. Donovan enlisted following Xiarhos’ demise.
One other Yarmouth bridge honors Xiarhos’ son. The rep mentioned he and his household have been placing up American and navy flags on that overpass since earlier than Nick even died. No harm has occurred there, he added.
“When someone disrespects it, it is wrong,” Xiarhos mentioned of the flag destruction on Donovan’s bridge. “When you do it with someone else’s property, on a memorial bridge, not only is it wrong and disrespectful, it’s illegal. That’s what people need to know.”
Xiarhos highlighted how a resident took it upon themselves to buy flags and put them up on Donovan’s bridge earlier this week. Different locals have informed him they’d like to purchase flags. An area ironmongery store has supplied to donate flags at any time when wanted.
“When it happens, you see people from all walks of life come together to either donate or just say, ‘We are going to fix this.’ That’s special,” Xiarhos mentioned. “To me, that’s because it’s the American flag, and that’s what Americans do.”
On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an govt order requiring the Justice Division to analyze and prosecute individuals for burning the American flag, an exercise that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom has dominated is legit political expression protected by the U.S. Structure.
The order the president signed within the Oval Workplace acknowledged the courtroom’s 5-4 ruling in a case from Texas in 1989, however mentioned there may be nonetheless room to prosecute flag burning if it “is likely to incite imminent lawless action” or quantities to “fighting words.”
Jane Donovan mentioned she’d wish to see any future culprits, if there are any, be fined and despatched to jail after damaging flags on her son’s bridge. “It’s really non-American, in my eyes,” she mentioned.
The mom mentioned she obtained a shock telephone name from Gov. Healey Monday evening, and the 2 “talked freely” about the latest vandalism.
In an announcement on Wednesday, Healey mentioned she directed the State Police to work in “close coordination” with Yarmouth PD to analyze the incident, “including surveillance to prevent crimes like this in the future.”
“Destroying the American flag is an insult to everyone who’s ever fought to defend it,” the governor mentioned, “and it will not be tolerated. Lance Cpl. William Joseph Donovan Jr. was a hero, and my heart goes out to his loved ones. I’ll always stand with our veterans and their families.”
A ceremony is slated to be held on Sept. 20 on the bridge in honor of the Donovan household.
“It would be wonderful to bring the whole community together in a positive way,” Jane Donovan mentioned. “Yes, the flags were desecrated multiple times over the course of a few years, and it’s now been rectified. There are cameras up. People need to focus on that positivity.”
The Related Press contributed to this report
