<p>Warren Hinrichs gets set to hoist himself up the flagpole for the job at the Grant County Courthouse.</p>

 

CANYON CITY Hes not a race car driver, but Warren Hinrichs job does involve a pole position.

Hinrichs, 72, of Spokane, Wash., has made a career out of shimmying and sprucing up flagpoles across the United States. He passed through Grant County April 28 to paint the one in front of the courthouse in Canyon City.

Its a business thats been in his family for more than a century.

His father, Bill, painted for 51 years, and Warren himself has been at it for 55 years. He figures hes had about 4,000 assignments by now, doubling his fathers count.

Hinrichs said the flagpoles vary in height, averaging about 28 feet. One of the tallest hes done is a 135-footer in Yakima, Wash.

The Grant County Courthouse flagpole stands 31-1/2 feet high. Hinrichs said its last paint job was five years ago April 9, 2008 with his son doing the work that time.

Some of the flagpoles, like Grant Countys, are stand-alone, while others stand atop structures.

No boom lift needed either. Hinrichs method involves a wooden platform seat from which buckets of spray paint cans and other tools hang and heavy ropes anchoring him to the pole and also forming a stirrup for his right leg. And all of which glitters from years of use, with several coats of silver paint.

The rest is pure muscle, as he hoists himself skyward, scraping smooth the occasional bad spots he encounters, until he reaches the top. The ball also called a truck gets an all-over fresh coat of gold paint, and then Hinrichs makes his way down, spraying the pole silver as he inches along.

A pole the size of the courthouses takes about 45 minutes to complete, Hinrichs said.

His expertise with a brush and spray can is not just for flagpoles. He also paints water towers, bridges and buildings.

His father didnt start out as a flagpole painter. Born in 1912, in north-central Minnesota, Bill Hinrichs first did harvest labor in North Dakota with his brothers for a wage of about a dollar a day.

In 1935, he landed a job helping paint a water tower in Crosby, Minn., and ended up getting hired on as a painter/painters helper. It was less pay 50 cents a day but steady work, and a job that took him traveling to several states, following assignments.

Warrens mother, Alice, often painted along with her husband, and several other members of the family did their share of painting over the years.

Hinrichs said hes had assignments in every state west of the Mississippi, and in his familys home state of Minnesota.

He has a thick scrapbook/photo album of his jobs over the years, which he totes along to show to anyone interested. Also accompanying him is his Shih Tzu dog, Stitch, a constant companion and observer as he paints.

Hinrichs, who has a lighthearted wit, enjoys his work, and has endless stories about his lifetime of jobs. But reviving poles, which for the most part hoist Old Glory, our countrys flag, is a calling in which he takes pride.

Im serious about what I do, Hinrichs said.