What do you folks think? The original owners of the flag should be able to deduct the cost of the flag as a donation still it is probably owned by the non-profit orgnization.
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[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/03/nyregion/03FLAG.html[/url]

Claiming Flag of Sept. 11, for History or Tax Break

March 3, 2002

Claiming Flag of Sept. 11, for History or Tax Break
By DAVID W. CHEN

When three firefighters hoisted an American flag atop the ruins of the
World Trade Center on Sept. 11, the image became an instant icon, evoking
comparisons to Iwo Jima and forming the basis for a proposed memorial
statue.
So who cares that the flag itself was snatched off a yacht by the
firefighters?
Nearly six months after the trade center attack, two Manhattan residents
have stepped forward to say that they, in fact, are the owners.
And while they say that they are immensely proud of the firefighters and
are not asking for the flag's return now, they would not mind their place
in history being noted.
It also would not hurt if they could get a charitable deduction on their
taxes for the enhanced value of the flag, which could fetch thousands of
dollars at auction.
So now, the two yacht owners, Shirley B. Dreifus and her husband, Spiros
E. Kopelakis, are asking the firefighters to sign affidavits stating that
yes, they did remove the flag from their charter yacht, the Star of
America, which was moored near the trade center. It is just a legal
formality, they say, that would allow them to donate the flag officially
to the city.
"We just want to make sure the flag is used appropriately, and not as a
crass marketing tool," Ms. Dreifus said, citing a downtown memorial or
museum as examples of proper uses. "If they use it appropriately, we'd
want to donate it. If not, we want it back."
The twin issues of provenance and benevolence could be settled this week,
when the three firefighters — Dan McWilliams, George Johnson and Billy
Eisengrein — are expected to consult with their lawyer, William P. Kelly,
and compare their own fuzzy memories with photographs provided by Ms.
Dreifus and Mr. Kopelakis. So far, the matter has been handled cordially,
all sides report. Still, the flag is another reminder of how gentle
diplomacy is sometimes necessary in addressing anything with emotional or
symbolic value connected to Sept. 11.
The flag is actually one of three famous flags associated with the
terrorist attack. There is the tattered one that was pulled from the
rubble that has made appearances at the Super Bowl and the Winter
Olympics.
There is also the one that was filled with impromptu, handwritten
testimonials from the victims' families and transported later to marines
fighting in Afghanistan.
And then there is this 3-by-5-foot flag, the smallest of the three. It is
aboard the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, which recently left
Bahrain and is expected to return home soon.
That, of course, is a far cry from how Mr. Kopelakis and Ms. Dreifus say
the flag was used before Sept. 11, when it was aboard the yacht, a
130-foot-long, three-level boat with ivory-colored suede ceilings and a
Yamaha player piano, that has been used to entertain the likes of the
Sultan of Brunei and Barbra Streisand.

Mr. Kopelakis and Ms. Dreifus, who also own another luxury charter boat,
the Majestic Star, bought the flag for about $50 at a boat show in New
York in January 2001. It was a perfunctory purchase; the two usually buy a
flag every year without much deliberation.
On Sept. 11, the boat was showered with debris from the trade center. The
next day, when crew members returned to the North Cove marina on the
Hudson River to move the vessel to Chelsea Piers, they discovered that the
flag, together with its 10-foot flagpole, was missing, Ms. Dreifus said.
"I thought, that is the strangest thing I could think of," she said. "The
flag was like — why? Nothing else was taken from the boat: the radar
equipment, computers, TV's, furniture."
The firefighters have told their lawyer, Mr. Kelly, that they remember
noticing an American flag on a yacht that was caked with debris around 5
p.m. on Sept. 11. They also remember removing the flag and its pole and
walking east toward West Street.
At first they wanted to plant the pole in the ground, Mr. Kelly said, but
then they saw a much larger flagpole in the ground to fly it from.
They did not see Thomas E. Franklin, the photographer for The Record of
Hackensack, N.J., who caught the moment.
Since then, the firefighters, together with Mr. Franklin, have rejected
all attempts to license the image for profit. The firefighters have,
however, established their own charity, the Bravest Fund, to assist
firefighters and police officers — and their families — affected by the
attack, said Jennifer Borg, The Record's vice president and general
counsel.
They also have no inherent objections, Mr. Kelly said, to the boat owners'
claim, for altruistic, tax or personal reasons. Still, they need to be
sure of the link.
They still need to be convinced that the flag they took came from the Star
of America. "If it's a question of, `I can't honestly say if that was it,
or wasn't it,' " Mr. Kelly said, "I wouldn't have them sign an affidavit."

For their part, Ms. Dreifus and Mr. Kopelakis say that the flag is
indisputably theirs because the firefighters were seen taking it, and
their boat was the only one in the marina that day with a flag accessible
from the dock.
Besides, "No one has come and said, `That's not your flag,' " Ms. Dreifus
said.
The thought of selling the flag, or deducting the donation on their taxes,
has crossed their mind, Ms. Dreifus said. After all, their charter
business is off 95 percent since Sept. 11.
"That will be good if we have some tax deduction," Mr. Kopelakis said.
"Anything can help."
It is hard to say what the flag is now worth.
In July, eBay sold for $12,300 a seven-ton American flag, more spacious
than a football field, that greeted the Americans held hostage in Iran
when they returned to America by way of Andrews Air Force Base in 1981. In
May, Sotheby's plans to auction 90 historic American flags from Thomas S.
Connelly, a private collector in Gladwyne, Pa., ranging from a pre-
Revolutionary War Grand Union Flag (expected price: $60,000 to $70,000) to
one that reportedly attended George Washington's 1789 inauguration
($30,000).
But, a hypothetical question: what about the flag raised by the three
firefighters?
"It's so valuable there is no value," Mr. Connelly said. "It's priceless."

Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company