It seems there are a few people out there who would like to see the Maine state flag get a makeover (“Lawmakers dump vintage flag design, but Maine still may have a new look for its bicentennial,” March 11). Some believe that the current flag is too complicated and should become more simply designed. Personally, I am not displeased with the current design. A simpler design wouldn’t bother me either.
One design I did see looked a little too simple. The center of the flag displayed what looked like a second-grader’s rendition of a fir tree. (I thought that the pine tree was the official tree of Maine.)
You can get a rather simple, but more accurate depiction of a pine tree on the current state flag. Not as simple, but still, not too complicated.
On one suggested flag, as in the 1901 flag, was a star in the upper left. The star was the basic five-point star drawn very much like another second-grader would drawn it. If one looked at how the star was drawn on the current state flag, it would appear to be a graphic match with the more realistically rendered pine tree.
I’m not against the artistic efforts of second-graders. I’ve raised many children and grandchildren, and I am proud of their artistic accomplishments.
I do feel, however that the Maine state flag should be just a little more sophisticated than a page out of 6-year-old’s coloring book.
Peter P. Sirois
Madison
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