Pass by The Flag at least once a year.
The rest of the story
Those of us who were alive remember where they were and what they were doing when they saw or heard of the first planes fly into the towers in New York City on September 11, 2001.
Chris Sneed was working in Incline Village on a pipe replacement project for Granite Construction on Lakeshore Boulevard on 9-11-01. He needed a part and ran into Spitsen Lumber. He was in line and saw the store's 12" television showing a plane hit the first tower, and then the second tower.
"I said to myself, this is not good," says Chris. "I knew then that everything about all of our lives was about to change."
As he turned to leave the store he saw some flags by the door and bought two of them. The crew closed up the job site for the day and headed home to their families.
As Chris was heading home to Carson City he saw a big rock formation off US50, one he'd passed often, and decided to climb it. Chris had been rock climbing since the age of 15 and knew then and there he had to climb.
"I took a moment, stopped, climbed up and put one of the flags from Spitsen in a crevice in the rock," said Chris.
The next day, back on the job, Chris's coworkers said to him, 'Hey, did you see that flag on the highway?'. When he told them he did it, Chris said they appreciated it, and that it was awesome.
He made the display more permanent and bought a bigger flag, the type made for homes with the hollow tube holders. That turned out to not be strong enough and had to replace it a few times.
Chris later worked for South Tahoe Public Utility District and custom built a flag holder with a steel pole to fit in a crack up on the rock. Since then he said he doesn't have to tend to it very often and only once has it blown down in all the years since its placement.
Now, every year, a ceremony is held to replace the flag.
"I don't feel right about celebrating 9-11," said Chris. "I decided to replace the flag on the eve of 9-11, a new flag and a new beginning each year. When everyone goes to work, its new."
On September 10, 2020, Chris once again climbed up the rock to replace the flag. Several people were waiting at nearby turnout off the highway as they do every year. Some members of his motorcycle club, the Henchmen, drove over six hours to be there for the moment, along with several from South Lake Tahoe.
Chris tended to the flags on the rock anonymously for years. It is on private property and he has permission of the land owner. When a nearby cross on the highway for Krystal Steadman (a local girl murdered in 2000 whose body was dumped on US50), Chris didn't want the flag taken too so he went public with the 9-11 flag story.
During the 2020 ceremony, a person donated four solar lights to be placed by the flag. Chris was up on the rock Friday, installing them in the same fashion he did the flag...nothing disturbed and using what is already there to hold them in place.
A 1988 South Tahoe High graduate, Sneed now lives in Sparks. He said next year's flag changing ceremony will be a big deal. He had his dad's military name tag from Vietnam sewn into the corner. In 2021, Marine guards will be there and hand the flag to his sister who will be traveling out for the flag changing ceremony. Nevada Department of Transportation is already working on the lane closure for the 5:30 p.m. event.
"If nothing else, when 9-11 happened it brought the nation together, the only positive thing to happen," said Chris.
He is now working to keep that energy going through the flag.
