Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire ACLU pizzed off !!! What say the campfire about this one?????

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,531525,00.html


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.

Congine's upside-down-flag represents distress to him; to others in town, it represents disrespect of the flag.

Hours before a Fourth of July parade, four police officers went to Congine's property and removed the flag under the advice of Marinette County District Attorney Allen Brey.

Neighbor Steven Klein watched in disbelief.

"I said, 'What are you doing?' Klein said. "They said, 'It is none of your business."'

The next day, police returned the flag.

Brey declined comment Friday.

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.

The parade went on without any problems, Kanikula said.

Village President John Deschane, 60, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam, said many people in town believe it's disrespectful to fly the flag upside down.

"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."

The flag should not be flown upside down except in cases of dire emergency. Bankruptcy is not one of those. Congine is out of line and he probably knows it. It's improper flag etiquette but I don't know that it is against the law.

Alan

AGREED

His flag, his property.

The locals were probably upset but I doubt the city slickers that vacation there really cared.

It's "Our" flag and it should be respected. Dumbazz shoulda got his liquor liscense before he spent 200K. 163bc

If he bought the flag it is his property. I think you have the right to be a dumbazz.

I don't think it's disrespectful,our nation has been under attack by hippies and liberals for a while.
the US is in the process of being turned upside down so pretty soon the flag will be right side up anyway.

I think we should all hang our flags upside down until BHO has left the building.

but what do I know,I'm a yankee

He probably had to spend the 200K before he could apply for a liquor license. No restaurant no license in most places.

In a place like this you'd think that a flagrant violation of a person's right to free speech (even if stupid and disrespectful) would be upheld and defended. So much for "I may not agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it".

I think the guy hit the nail on the head, "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."

Its more illegal to violate someone's constitutional rights than it is to be disrepectful or disruptive.

I don't take issue with his 1st Amendment rights. I just don't think he should use the US Flag to state his case. Flying it upside down means "I am in dire circumstances and need immediate assistance". Dire circumstances being at risk of life and limb. It is for Emergencies. It is crying "Wolf" and when it becomes commonplace to use it as a form of expression it will place those who find themselves in Dire Circumstances SOL someday. I saw one in town just now upside down. Don't know if those folks are in Dire Circumstances or just crying "Wolf"!

When anyone uses the US Flag for any sort of expression other than "The Flag of The United States of America" they lump themselves in with flag burners/desecrators because proper flag etiquette requires that they not do so. Even wearing the flag itself or any part of it as an article of clothing is contrary to proper flag etiquette.

Look it up, don't take my word for it.

Alan

I don't think he should do it either, but the police sure don't have the right to come and take it away just because he is misusing the flag. If he wants to show his ignorance using a flag he has the right to do that.

I am not sure how I feel about the flag being flown upside-down. The argument could be made that this country is in dire trouble. My thought is that it seem hypocritical to give this man grief, when more than once, I have seen much worse done on national television [ie. burning, being drug down the street, and being worn as clothing in a protest of some kind]

The problem with the logic here is illustrated in the quote from Jefferson you see below my post.

We Conservatives used to be the ones who were about individual rights... even for those who use their rights to do things we find offensive. But no more.

I genuinely have a hard time understanding just what it is that some conservatives are looking to conserve anymore.

To bad some one doesn't feed him a knuckle sandwich outside his own restaurant. He's kinda ordered one doncha think?

He's got the right to fly it however he sees fit, but he should be able to handle consequences.

This country has been hijacked by a muslim who cannot prove citizenship as well as his appointees.
Cause for alarm? Distress?
You bet it is...

bad manners or bad flag etiquette isn't illegal.....coming on his property to take his flag is, though.



whether he intended to send a political or simply a commercial protest message, its clearly protected speech. he may recoup some of his lost money in his lawsuit against the police, but not much.

Preach on.

Sorry if I had you wrong...

Reminds me of when I lived at a house with the flag poles with descending heights. I chose to fly three flags....the Texas flag highest, the Confederate in the middle, and the US flag lowest.

Used to have an ongoing argument with a retired Army colonel about how I chose to fly my flags. He even tried to have the law remove the flags.....which they refused to do as there was no law being broken. I told him I flew the flags as I did because that's how my loyalty was....Texian first, Southern second, and American third. And that's how I'd fight if ever forced to make a choice.

I wasn't protesting, just expressing myself as I saw fit. Others might not agree, but that's the point of living in a supposedly free country......so I can do so regardless of whether it's popular with anyone else.

That's the case with this man....he can fly his flag anyway he wants and others can fly theirs as they wish. The illegal removal by the government should result in a law suit at the least. In my opinion, the District Attourney (who ordered the removal), the police chief (who agreed and also ordered the removal) and the officer who actually carried out the illegal action should all face criminal as well as civil action.

It will never happen I know, but if I decided to go on my neighbors property and remove his car because it was a low-rider and "offended" me......I'd be in jail.

When the government becomes "above the law"....everyone is definitely in distress.

I guess you can lump me into that category then, because I flew mine inverted right alongside my Gadsden flag. If the state of what's left of our Republic isn't dire, I guess I don't know what is. Abrogation of contract law, takeover of private enterprise, nationalization of whole swaths of industry, and more confiscation of income through direct and indirect taxation are all klaxons of alarm, as far as I'm concerned.