photo by: Chris Conde/ Journal-World

Carter Cupps, left, and Sgt. Rob Murry stand in front of a new flag repository on June 14, 2022, at the Lawrence Police Department Headquarters. Cupps built the repository box and donated it to the department as his final project to become an Eagle Scout.

With Flag Day this month and Independence Day next month, Lawrence residents unfurling American flags and finding them a bit worse for wear now have a proper place to “retire” them, thanks to a new repository that was built by a Lawrence Boy Scout.

The repository was unveiled Tuesday, which was Flag Day, at the Lawrence Police Department Headquarters.

Lawrence Scout Carter Cupps, 17, is a member of Boy Scout Troop No. 53, and he made the repository as a project to become an Eagle Scout. Cupps donated the repository to LPD, headquartered at 5100 Overland Drive, to make it easy for Lawrence residents to respectfully dispose of the Stars and Stripes, he said.

According to the U.S. Flag Code, “The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.”

“I see a lot of American Flags that are worn, and many people don’t know what to do with them,” Cupps said.

The Boy Scouts of America retires flags by cutting the field of stars from the stripes, Cupps said. The new repository is made of plywood and corner trim with a polyurethane stain.

The flag repository will be used to store worn and damaged flags until they can be properly retired and will be used by Scouts to deposit flags they collect from the community, according to a news release from the Lawrence Police Department. The repository is available to the public in the lobby of LPD headquarters.

The repository project is one of the last tasks Cupps must complete to become an Eagle Scout. He has been a part of the Boy Scouts for 12 years and will officially become an Eagle Scout in about two weeks after his application paperwork is finalized, he said.

Cupps recently graduated from Free State High School and plans to attend the University of Kansas to earn a degree in finance, he said.