Upside-Down Flag Stolen by Police on Independance Day

[ARTICLE]

WAUSAU, Wis. – An American flag flown upside down as a protest in a northern Wisconsin village was seized by police before a Fourth of July parade and the businessman who flew it — an Iraq war veteran — claims the officers trespassed and stole his property.

A day after the parade, police returned the flag and the man’s protest — over a liquor license — continued.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin is considering legal action against the village of Crivitz for violating Vito Congine Jr.’s’ First Amendment rights, Executive Director Chris Ahmuty said.

“It is not often that you see something this blatant,” Ahmuty said.

In mid-June, Congine, 46, began flying the flag upside down — an accepted way to signal distress — outside the restaurant he wants to open in Crivitz, a village of about 1,000 people some 65 miles north of Green Bay.

He said his distress is likely bankruptcy because the village board refused to grant him a liquor license after he spent nearly $200,000 to buy and remodel a downtown building for an Italian supper club.

[...]

Marinette County Sheriff Jim Kanikula said it was not illegal to fly the flag upside down but people were upset and it was the Fourth of July.

“It is illegal to cause a disruption,” he said.

[...]

“If he wants to protest, let him protest but find a different way to do it,” Deschane said.

Congine, a Marine veteran who served in Iraq in 2004, said he intends to keep flying the flag upside down.

“It is pretty bad when I go and fight a tyrannical government somewhere else,” Congine said, “and then I come home to find it right here at my front door.”

(emphasis added)

Ah the good ole U.S of A. The land of the free. On the day that is supposed to represent our freedom and liberty, the state trespasses and steals a man’s personal expression of liberty because old ladies, soccer-mom’s, and arm-chair patriots might be offended. My favorite line in the entire article is “If he wants to protest, let him protest but find a different way to do it.”

Government approved protests are not protests.

I also like the part where the cops says it’s not illegal to fly the flag upside down but causing a disruption is. The only way a disruption could be caused is if the soccer-moms, old ladies, and arm-chair patriots cause a scene over the flag in their ignorance of what it means.

The police were the only ones causing a disruption in this situation. If flying the flag is not illegal, why did you trespass and steal it? You should be fired.

I hope that man keeps flying the flag the way he wants to. And I hope he has the balls to sell his own products without a license. If you have to get a permit (i.e. BEG PERMISSION) to run a business, you are not free.

The 4th of July, or INDEPENDANCE DAY should be considered a protest rather than a celebration. It’s been a long time since this country has been free.

~ by DontTreadOnMike on July 11, 2009.