Canutillo district announces crowd funding effort for mural

national attention the controversial mural of an american flag at a canutillo school under construction. hunt communities objected to a flag- like mural painted on the side of the new reyes elementary school, saying it didn’t meet the color requirements of the neighborhood. it was painted over. after months of disagreements between the developer and the canutillo school district-the flag will be painted again. today the district announced “operation paint it back” abc7 jerry najera tells us the district is looking for patriotic people to help pay for the massive mural. “we’re feeling so happy, we’r feeling like there’s hope.” board president laur searls stands along side former congress man sylvestre reyes and combat veteran vince vargas. you can see by the smiles-the announcement of the crowd funding project “operation paint it back” is an exiting day for the group. “thi is important for those of us who are veterans” reyes — wh the school is being named after — tells me the months of controversy isn’t just about a painting “it is culmination of all the sacrifices not just that we made but that are being made today by men and women in our military” this year the the school painted a sample of the flag. hunt communities the developer of the area told the district it didn’t meet the color scheme of the neighborhood and made the district paint over the flag. for combat veterans like vargas it was an insult “it wa a slap in the face i almost felt i was being disrespected personally” with approval from area residents the flag was allowed to be painted but the problem now is that the district didn’t appropriate funds to repaint the flag when the projects budget was established in 2011. now the district is looking for the communities help to fund the 50 thousand dollar mural. vargas a military clothing line owner has more than 3 hundred thousand followers on social media through several outlets. he tells me he wants to use his social media power to get donations. “we don’t have to shy away from being american anymore we shouldnt have to shy away from being american we should be proud of that fact because thats who we are proud americans” only