Star and stripes.

Old Glory.The Red, White and Blue.The Star-Spangled Banner.Nothing symbolizes our freedom and patriotism like the American flag.And few areas can boast of the patriotism our region displays as we honor our veterans and those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.When we redesigned the Times News, we didn't bring the flag along with us.And boy, did we hear about it.When we first began looking at the newspaper, we discussed looking at a way to incorporate the flag into our design.And then somehow the red, white and blue got lost as we were figuring out shades of blue for the banner, shades of tan for the info box and shades of gray for the briefs headers.We did a press test in early February and suddenly no one liked the font we had chosen for the Times News banner.Back to the design board.We made a choice from 10 or so fonts and came up with the choice you see today.Except when we tested it, the blue looked like a tropical color you'd find in a newspaper in Florida.We wanted a deeper, serious color.That should have been simple.Our graphic designer started experimenting by taking out magenta, adding yellow. Or adding magenta and cutting back on the yellow. That's why he's the graphics guy. He knows these things.In the next test, the banner looked more like a teal.Finally, we found what we wanted and rebuilt the templates that were already put into our new system.New system? Wow, there was the challenge.We needed to upgrade our computer system and our software. We switched from Macs to PCs, Saxopress to NewsCycle, and Quark to InDesign. Make that sanity to insanity.Many of our readers have gone through computer upgrades and lived to tell about it. For us, it made sense to combine the system upgrade with the new look. Why build templates twice?As we started training, we weren't so sure. It was mind-boggling and we didn't think about the flag until the first paper rolled off the press and people started calling and writing to say, "Shame on You."Readers didn't care about the 10 designs of the banner, the color of info boxes or the 50 shades of gray we tested.Turns out they didn't care about much but the red, white and blue.So we brought it back, in prominent position at the top of the rail.What it means was drilled home last week when I was on vacation.We attended an armed forces parade in Atlantic City. People lined the boardwalk as convertibles carried veterans from World War II to the Vietnam War. Each car bore a sign with the name of the veteran and the war he served. Marching bands played everything from "Stars and Stripes Forever" to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic."One of the county officials came by early in the parade and gave everyone flags to wave. And so they did. Everyone who could stood and thanked them.Amid tears, veterans thanked us.Late in the 90-minute parade, a family came through holding a poster of a soldier who didn't make it back.I remembered his name so I could look it up.Spc. Eric G. Palacios Rivera, 21, of Atlantic City died Nov. 14, 2006, in combat in Ar Ramadi.According to the Atlantic City Press, Rivera was assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division.The young man who joined the U.S. Army after high school was shot and killed while his platoon searched for a weapons cache.And that's why we need to keep the American flag right on the front page.Marta Gouger, Times News editor, will give readers a bi-weekly look behind the scenes at the Times News. Contact her at

mgouger@tnonline.com.