TEMECULA - For months, Christopher Herbers looked up at the flag flying over Tower Plaza, but rather than pride, felt shame.

Not for any political reason - Herbers considers himself a patriot - but because of the condition of the flag, which was in tatters. Herbers tried twice to get the center's management to replace the worn emblem, but couldn't get a response to his complaints, he said.

So, last Saturday, he took matters into his own hands.

"I couldn't stand the thought of the tattered and knotted, literally, flag flying on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks," Herbers said. "So when we drove through the center on Saturday, I was overcome with the sudden urge to remove the eyesore that was once a proud symbol of our country."

Herbers said he crawled through the bushes that surround the lighted flag pole and found the lock box open. With the help of two others, he was able to lower the 20- by 30-foot flag, which he later turned over to members of the center's movie theater, near Rancho California and Ynez roads.

"It was pretty wild when he walked up with the flag in his arms," said Shawn Davis, who was working at The Movie Experience at Tower Plaza. "It's a huge flag. I was impressed that he was able to get it down."

The flag was still at the movie theater box office Tuesday awaiting direction from the shopping center's management company. The faded Old Glory is shredded at the ends, with some swaths of torn fabric as long as 5 feet. Some of the mangled ends had knotted themselves in the wind.

"It was disgusting - I'd never seen a flag like that," said Herbers, who comes from a military family and whose son is currently serving the Air Force. "I'm not sorry for my hasty action, but instead am sorry for the shameful and horrible representation this circumstance was making of our proud and patriotic Temecula community."

Herbers didn't try to hide his actions. On Monday, he sent e-mails to Temecula's City Council members as well as to local newspapers explaining the situation. He said short of ordering a new flag himself, he was out of ideas of how the flag could be replaced.

"If you're going to fly the flag, do it right," he said. "Don't fly it because you feel like you have to, or that you think it will be good for business. Fly it because you respect it and what it stands for."

Temecula City Councilman Ron Roberts said he will direct city staff to find out how much a flag of that size will cost, in case there was a need for a grassroots effort to replace the colors. Councilman Mike Naggar was touched by Herbers' story and said he would personally pledge $100 toward the purchase of a new flag, which he estimated will cost $1,000.

However, those efforts may no longer be necessary.

A representative of CRG Leasing and Management, the company that oversees Tower Plaza, said on Tuesday that a new flag had been ordered the Friday before Herbers took it upon himself to remove the colors. The new flag should be delivered in two weeks and will be the same dimensions as the previous flag, 20 by 30 feet.

- Contact staff writer Nicole Sack at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2616, or nsack@californian.com.