For a second year in a row close to the Fourth of July holiday, hundreds of flags have been stolen from houses in a section of Mountain Lakes.

Peggy Lefsky says she has decorated her community in Denville and Mountain Lakes with flags before Independence Day for the past 10 years. She says she doesn?t know who took the flags from the 300 Mountain Lakes homes.

?This is the spirit. It is the Fourth of July?if someone doesn?t agree with what the government is doing, that?s one thing,? one neighbor said. ?But we are celebrating our independence.?

Lefsky had more flags delivered to her overnight. She, with the help of some neighbors, plans to put them back on the lawns at 7 a.m. Wednesday.

Meanwhile, police have stepped up patrols in the neighborhood where Denville and Mountain Lakes meet. The flag-stealing incident is currently under investigation.