detectives issued a press release Wednesday asking for help from the public in their investigation into the .
"The uproar caused by this senseless act has many citizens of Newtown furious and hoping for a resolution to the crime," Detective Jason Frank said in a statement issued Wednesday. "Anyone with information to this crime is urged to call the Newtown Police Department in the strictest of confidence at 203-426-5841."
The Dodgingtown Road flag, which stands mere feet from the border of Bethel, was vandalized sometime during the rainy overnight hours of Dec. 6 and discovered the next day. The vandals squirted acrylic craft paint of varying colors, including blue, yellow and red, onto a mural of the U.S. flag painted on a row of trees by local artist David Merrill. Lights that illuminuated the flag trees also were smashed.
The lights were replaced and most of the paint was removed by Dodgingtown firefighters and later Merrill who made touch ups to the mural.
The mural was commissioned by of his many friends and their family who died during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Since its creation, the flag has been a beloved landmark in town and admired by many people across the country who have seen images of the trees published in books and magazines and shown on news media outlets.
