Flags of Remembering

Owner Carlos Corneiles of Gorge Kite School has used his flag pavilion on the Spit in Hood River to honor two recent drowning victims. The rows of flag staffs, which Corneiles put up three years ago, fly a varying selection of banners, and all are flying at half-staff through this week to pay respect to the two people who died in the Columbia near Hood River on Aug. 5, and to their families. Not all of the staffs bear flags, as some had recently been vandalized, Corneiles said. The banners are visible from the Event Site and Nichols Basin, but harder to detect over the line of trees, since the flags are five feet lower than usual.