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EVOLUTION
OF THE U.S. FLAG
 On
Thursday, September 9, at 7 p.m. at the Grace Lutheran Church
in University Heights, Shirley Harms, winner of the 2010 Freedoms
Foundation George Washington Honor Medal, will present a brief
history of the United States flag, starting with the 13th century
British Cross of St. George, to the 50-star flag of 1959. The
presentation will feature full-size replicas of eleven flags
to illustrate each step in the flag’s evolution.
One
of the eleven flags to be displayed is the Grand Union Flag,
which was George Washington’s favorite. The flag with the
thirteen red and white alternating stripes flew over his headquarters “ ....
as a compliment to the thirteen original colonies “ he
said.
There is no documentation to prove it, but many historians
believe that the flag referred to as the Betsy Ross Flag
was very likely made by the seamstress and flag maker, Betsy
Ross, but may have been designed by Francis Hopkinson, one
of the signers of The Declaration of Independence.
President Dwight Eisenhower was in office when the words “under God” were
added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954. Francis Bellamy, an ordained minister
who authored the original pledge in 1892, would not have been happy with any
alterations made to his work, according to his granddaughter.
At
89 years young, Shirley Harms has educated over 30,000
children and adults about the flag of the United States. In
1986, she and her husband, Albert Harms, a WWII veteran, presented
the idea of a flag program to their local Lions Club. The
Lions Club supported the idea so the Harms started
presenting their flag program to fifth graders at three elementary
schools in their community. Albert died in 1999 but
Shirley carried the program on and now presents to over 20
schools and adult groups each year.
This
free lecture, sponsored by the University Heights Historical
Society, will take place in the Fellowship Hall of the historic
Grace Lutheran Church, located at 3993 Park Blvd. at the southeast
corner of Park and Lincoln. Free parking is available in the
lot behind the church. Enter the church from the back alley and
take the stairs to your right up to the Fellowship Hall on the
second level. For more information, contact the University Heights
Historical Society at (619) 297-3166 or visit our website at www.uhcdc.org.
Refreshments will be served starting at 6:30 pm.
2010
TASTE OF UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS AND ARTS OPEN
Ticket
Information:
Art/Food
Fusion Reception on September 10: FREE
Arts
Open on September 12: FREE
Taste
of UH on September 12: $15 in advance/$20 day of event and includes
raffles with prizes. Advance tickets may be purchased at the UHCDC
office at 619-297-3166 or at the Art/Food Fusion reception at Swedenborg
Hall on Friday, Sepember 10th 7-9pm.
YOUR
INPUT IS NEEDED!
 The
City of San Diego is embarking on an update to the 1988 Uptown
Community Plan concurrently with updates to the community plans
for Golden Hill and North Park, which is expected to take 2 to
3 years to complete.
Community
input is needed, especially because the city's focus is shifting
from how to develop vacant land to how to design infill development
in existing communities, such as University Heights.
The
University Heights Community Development Corporation is actively
participating in the plan update process and would like your
input on plan issues such as provision of public services, public
transit, and historic preservation. Your responses are completely
anonymous and confidential and will be presented as part of an
aggregate during the plan update process. To take the survey,
please click here.
For
more information on the city's plan update process, visit the
City of San Diego website.
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