County, FFA work to create San Benito flag
It may only be a matter of time before the county has a flag it
can call its own.
After members of San Benito High School’s Future Farmers of
America asked the board of supervisors to consider creating a
county flag, at the FFA’s expense, the board agreed to pay homage
to the California state flag.
County, FFA work to create San Benito flag
It may only be a matter of time before the county has a flag it can call its own.
After members of San Benito High School’s Future Farmers of America asked the board of supervisors to consider creating a county flag, at the FFA’s expense, the board agreed to pay homage to the California state flag.
The rough draft from the county includes a sold red line at the bottom of the flag with the county’s seal in the flag’s middle, with the words “San Benito County” resting above the red line and below the seal.
Supervisor Robert Rivas recommended the design during the board’s Jan. 25 meeting. Before approving the flag, the board wanted to give the FFA students an opportunity to review and give ideas for the flag.
Candice Hooper, the district attorney and an FFA booster, said the students would review and vote on the flag during their meeting Wednesday, after Pinnacle press time.
“It looks really good,” Hooper said of the mock flag.
She doesn’t expect the students to decline the draft, but once it is approved she will begin to seek how much it will cost.
The FFA hopes to purchase two flags, one for the county and one for the program, but they need to be cost effective, Hooper said.
“It depends on the cost,” Hooper said. “Plan for two, but I don’t know.”
The interest for a state flag was sparked during the FFA’s annual Chapter Officer Leadership Conference held in San Benito County every October, FFA adviser Kelly Bianchi said. The conference is a workshop for leadership training.
Each conference starts with an introduction of each county’s flag. For the march, the county’s FFA chapter used the San Benito County Saddle Horse Show & Rodeo’s flag.
“We always used their flag, but it really doesn’t represent our county,” Bianchi said.
This year, the FFA decided to peruse the creation of a flag that did signify what it is like to live in the county, Bianchi said. The hope is to get the flag before the next conference.
“The kids are excited – they want to make their mark with this,” she said.
The creation of the flag sparked a near 20-minute conversation from the board of supervisors, members of which wanted to make the county’s seal the flag’s centerpiece.
The county’s staff presented the board with five different diagrams of a drafted flag. The design was the same, but the color changed. Using a white backdrop, the seal was in the center with colored parallel bars on the right and left.
Supervisor Margie Barrios wanted to use turquoise bars, and Supervisor Anthony Botelho thought red bars looked the best.
“I like the red, but I don’t want to see gang members using this flag,” he said.
The board, in a 4- 1 vote, eventually settled on a flag that was similar to the California state flag. But the county did want involvement from the FFA students.
