A number of aging and illegible banners of veterans were recently placed on street poles in Coaldale.

“We agreed that we weren’t going to put up the ones that are totally faded,” council President Claire Remington explained. “And they were put up anyway. It looks terrible, having those up that look like that.”

And, she said, several locations in the borough should always have patriotic banners but at least two of them were missed.

Remington noted that a banner memorializing Norman Nesterak, who was killed in action in Vietnam, should always be placed in front of borough hall.

It wasn’t.

“I’m not blaming anybody. I’m just saying once the bucket truck is fixed, once we get it, can we please take care of that?” Remington asked.

Banners are also missing at the veterans’ monument in Seek.

“That’s another place where there should have been banners. That’s common sense,” Remington said. “I want to make sure that there are banners down there.”

Remington suggested looking at all the banners and seeing which are in the worst condition.

“We need to really clean it up,” she said.

Resident Daniel Weiksner explained that banners in Tamaqua are a program of the Tamaqua Area Chamber of Commerce.

“They do it as a fundraiser,” he explained.

The banners are displayed for a year or two before they’re removed and given to the person or family who purchased them.

Lansford had the program for three years but no longer does it, Weiksner said.

“It sounds like you can’t put them up for more than a couple of years,” he said, referring to how they age and wear. “Eventually, you have to take them down.”

Remington said the banners are guaranteed for two years.

“Ours have been up a lot longer than that,” Remington said.

Councilwoman Angela Krapf noted that the borough has had the banners for about five years. They last longer, she said, because they aren’t in place year-round. They’re put up and taken down each year.

“It’s a lot of work and a lot of time. But we had volunteers do it and the borough guys also helped doing it, and that’s why we did get so much life out of them,” Krapf said. “We wanted to respect it and we wanted to be able to keep them up because it is a wonderful thing to have.”

Solicitor Robert Yurchak said Nesquehoning places its banners before Memorial Day and removes them after Veterans Day. They’re given back to the person who purchased them after three years.