Posted on 09/26/2009 10:12:55 AM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
VALLEY FALLS -- The young man was given three choices: get turned over to the police, go one-on-one in a fight with a seasoned war veteran, or be duct-taped to a flagpole for six hours with a sign around his neck identifying his alleged crime: flag burning.
It was the third option that would still have the small town buzzing a week after a 21-year-old was hunted down and forced to endure a public humiliation with its roots dating to the Middle Ages. Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1938 were incensed enough to tie up the man last Sunday after they accused him of setting the flag in front of their building on fire.
Post Commander Nick Normile, a Vietnam War veteran, said the man came into the post's bar Sept. 18 on Poplar Avenue and was eventually turned away for not having a proper ID.
Apparently angered, the young man, who Normile did not want to name, cut the rope of the American flag flying overhead and used a cigarette lighter to set it on fire, Normile and others said.
The man sat pilloried as the village had its fall youth soccer picnic with a long parade of children passing in front of him.
"He'll never disrespect the flag again, I can tell you that," Normile said.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesunion.com ...
Excellent!
Violated his Civil Rights. Holder is on it.
humiliation doesn’t change anyone anymore — because it requires humility to be effective, and that’s in short supply these days. It’ll probably turn him into a shoe bomber.
Pointless and stupid.
On a similar note: I am afraid that vigilantism will become the law of the land soon, because the laws now give no justice. Had this perp been turned over to the constables, the ACLU would have been there in a heartbeat to "preserve his right to free expression" and the leftists would have carried him out of the jail on their shoulders.
Calm down Dubh! You're getting your BP up again....
No doubt some will laud this, but I find it despicable.
My Dad got one up in Columbus, Ohio in the sixties while I was away. Broad daylight, smacks the crap out of a guy desecrating a flag in an anti-war protest and leaves. We need more folks that remember what that flag represents!
Let the punishment fit the crime ...
I think it’s a good approach to let the perp choose his punishment.
“I am afraid that vigilantism will become the law of the land soon”
I agree. How many people have confidence in our justice system? Not many, I think. It’s seeming more like the wild west all the time.
A fourth choice of being wrapped in the flag and set on fire would have been my suggestion.....
Stocks and Pillories...huzzah!
Hey, it was his choice.
“It’s seeming more like the wild west all the time.”
Which had a much lower crime rate than today.
IMOH it is neither pointless nor stupid. I majored criminology in college and there is a long history in the use and success of public shaming in behavior modification.
Righteous!
Technically, the choice itself was criminal extortion by threat of violence. So, no, not buying. The problem with vigilantism is that it begets retribution. At this point since the police are obviously in on it, who could blame a family member of this kid for going vigilante on the vigilantes which of course would beget retaliation in kind...
Is there a reason that we don’t just make the flag out of fire resistant materials?
Exactly!
yes, despicable vigilantism
That is entirely up to the manufacturer.
Pissed off? U-Betcha!
You're thinking about the wild west as portrayed in the movies.
In the real west, a man's word was his bond, women were respected and if you could work you worked or died. Your country was sacrosanct and neighbors were neighbors. Everyone carried a gun and there was less crime per capita than in Boston or New York City.
The west was not settled by a bunch of brie eating Chablis drinking Long Island liberals.
Yes, “Law & Order” is just the name of a TV show. Decent people will need to be prepared to defend themselves and their homes and property all on their own. And probably sooner rather than later. It is indescribably sad that we have come to this, but it is fact. It is a long struggle back, if we can make it at all.
Which is why shooting a perp during the commission of a crime should be grounds for a reward, not persecution...
Neither.
Did passer’s by call him a p**** for not choosing option 2? I would have been unable to resist that.
True. All you have to do is watch "Cold Case Files" or "Forensic Files". I respect the sometimes superhuman efforts of the lab techs and officers but when the latter say that "justice" was served when a killer, nailed by strong DNA and forensic evidence, plea bargains a death sentence down to a "Life" (sometimes WITH parole) I have to wonder.
Rather than prosecuting the young man and giving him a permanent criminal record, they offered a reasonable solution which served everyone’s purpose. Very wise.
This is NOT vigilantism. This is settling a property destruction dispute between the parties. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, legally or morally.
He could have easily say “call the police.” He didn’t.
In my area, burning someone's flag is a good way to wind up in the hospital after being beaten by unknown assailants.
Bullshit. This is the sort of thuggish behavior we accuse the other side of. Flag burning isn’t illegal, and attempts to make it illegal just alienate people who might otherwise be sympathetic to the people who hate the little shits who burn our flag.
Why?
Fantastic.
“Unknown assailants” are cowards.
It’s not illegal to burn someone else’s flag?
The cop just chogied down the road, working on the see no evil principle I guess.
Be more clear, what was despicable, the fact he was given a choice, or the fact he chose not to go through the legal process?
That’s called vandalism, nothing more. Do you beat up vandals, or do you press criminal charges against them? How about you, do you believe in the rule of law?
“Flag burning isn’t illegal”
If you own the flag in question,,no it is not illegal. But he burned a flag that belonged to them,,therefore, it’s illegal as hell. They offered him a chance to siimply be arrested by the police for his crime, or take an alternate punshment they liked.
It was illegal, and they settled on a contract in lieu of prosecution. Simple.
Hahaha, too funny.
Burning this flag was a criminal act of vandalism by the perp. It was not political speech.
Burning the flag is a form of political speech protected by the First Amendment.
The flag is sacred to me and to many others,but it is within’s a person’s right to burn the flag of his country to protest his own government.
The First Amendment does not protect against @ss-whopping that might occur after the flag is torched.
dr, it was not his flag to burn! The flag was someone else’s
property. You just can’t go around mucking up another persons stuff. He got what he deserved.
Calm yourself, I was simply commenting on the use of public shaming, jeeze.
Because the proper, approved, method for disposing of an American Flag which has become unserviceable (unsuitable for display) due to damage, wear, etc. is to burn it, in a proper ceremony with respect.
Not like this sh!thead in the story did, of course.
Google it, or check the American Legion site, or any of a number of sites dedicated to proper care and display of Old Glory.
US Flag Code, TITLE 4 > CHAPTER 1 > Sec. 8(k) states:"The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning"
Why?
I don’t think you get it. Self-righteousness over a $40 flag, probably made in China, is not a sane reason to get into fisticuffs with anybody.
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