“That’s a degree of crazy we shouldn’t allow.”

This would be unbelievable — but it’s California.

After three years, the privately funded $60,000 monument, which is sponsored by the American Legion and would be placed on a sliver of land owned by the California Department of Transportation, is still unbuilt. The sticking point has been opposition from Caltrans to the monument’s use of the American flag and the agency’s apparent reluctance to allow the display of words — such as “United States” — on the monument’s military emblems.

The issue surfaced last week before the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, which sent a letter to Caltrans urging it to let the flag “stand tall in the center of this beautiful monument.”

In an interview, Peter Adam, the supervisor representing Orcutt, was unequivocal about the idea of striking the flag from a veterans monument: “That’s a degree of crazy we shouldn’t allow.”