Columbus pupils share giant flag with New York school

COLUMBUS - Public School 142 in New York&#39;s Lower East Side is more than 800 miles from Columbus. <br> <br> But it is about a mile from where the World Trade Center towers once graced the city&#39;s skyline. Practically everyone knew someone involved in the Sept. 11 tragedy, and many saw one of the planes crash into the towers or one of the buildings collapse. <br> <br> That is why the students of Blanchard Elementary School wanted to share a giant American flag they made as a memorial. <br> <br> A dozen Blanchard parents, teachers and students visited P.S. 142 on Thursday to unfurl the banner, which is 39 feet long and 24 feet high - large enough to drape over a school bus. <br> <br> The 83-pound flag was too big to fit inside the auditorium or gym, so it was raised on pulleys hung on an outside wall. <br> <br> ``We wanted to show the people in New York how much the people in Georgia love them,&#39;&#39; said Michele Boyd, a mother of three who led the effort to sew 678 14-by-12-inch rectangles of cloth together to create the flag. <br> <br> Blanchard students decorated their own swatches with pictures and words to express their feelings about the events of Sept. 11 and honor the victims and heroes. <br> <br> Boyd&#39;s determined pursuit of government officials got President Bush and former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani to sign the last two stars that were affixed to the flag. Blanchard teachers and Columbus public safety officers signed the others. <br> <br> The Columbus delegation gave P.S. 142 a framed photo of the flag because the Blanchard folks are scheduled to present the flag at the Pentagon on Flag Day, June 14. <br> <br> Natalia Tavarez, a sixth-grader at P.S. 142, said she ``felt honored that kids our age who don&#39;t live here still had the same feelings as us.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Another sixth-grader, Larry Grissom, said raising the flag at first made him sad because it brought back all the images of Sept. 11. <br> <br> ``But then I realized I wasn&#39;t as upset anymore,&#39;&#39; Larry said.

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