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Posted on 07/27/2005 8:39:31 PM PDT by MIT-Elephant
Banner yet waves
KATHLEEN MERRYMAN; THE NEWS TRIBUNE Published: July 27th, 2005 12:01 AM
If you live at the serene and well-tended Brookside Gardens Apartments off of McKinley Avenue and 100th Street East, you can have a planter on your deck, and a barbecue, patio furniture and one quarter of a cord of wood – but not the American flag displayed for all to see.
I guess it’s not scenic, Old Glory. Or perhaps it’s distracting. Or pushy.
U.S. Flag Codewise, Deanna Wallace, 46, has had hers properly hung – field of stars to the viewer’s left – inside the eave of her third-floor deck since last July.
She displays it to honor the most important men in her life.
Her son, Pfc. Jeremy Wallace, 20, is in Iraq with the Stryker brigade. He is in Mosul, where he survived a roadside bomb attack in which he sustained neck and head injuries from which he has recovered.
Her sweetheart, Sgt. Charles Reid, is in the Army in Afghanistan, building roads in the high country.
The flag is a comfort to Wallace, a reminder that even her fear and loneliness are part of a tradition of sacrifice abroad and at home. Wallace comes from a military family and, as far back as she can remember, has taken her flag seriously.
“To me it means freedom, courage, dedication, everything it says on a magnet on my refrigerator,” she said, retrieving and reading it: “The stars and stripes tell a story of dedication, grace and glory.”
But her stars and stripes, hung from two small hooks inside that deck eave, are renegade colors.
On July 20, Wallace got a note from Brookside Gardens Apartments’ “community manager.” “Dear Deanna Wallace,” it read. “It is important that I speak with you as soon as possible. Please stop by the business office or call me no later than Friday, July 22, 2005, between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.”
Sounded serious and mysterious, especially in light of the effort Wallace invests in being a good neighbor at Brookside. Her apartment is immaculate. She does not party or play loud music. She goes to work, the gym, and home and jokes that she has no life. So Wallace responded at once.
“They told me to remove my flag,” she said. “They said remove it, or move it back where it can’t be seen. It’s not uniform with the building.”
At first, she was stunned, then angry. Then she cried. She took down the flag.
The next day, she put it back.
The disabled veteran who lives in a first floor apartment in the building next to hers never did take down his American or Washington state flags, though he got a similar notice.
Brookside Gardens is one of 60-some properties managed by Allied Group, Inc., of Renton.
Christy Throm is Allied’s portfolio manager responsible for Brookside, and the person who, on a site visit, ordered the flag down.
She wants to make it very clear that Allied has nothing against the flag and respects the flag. But, she said, this flag is in violation of the lease and rules and regulations documents Wallace signed.
Throm and I spoke twice. The first time, she said the rules and regulations banned all flags and banners.
“No,” Wallace responded, and produced the documents in question.
No mention of flags and banners.
Throm also insisted the flag was attached to the building outside the patio and that it was impinging on public space.
In fact, it is, and always has been, attached to the inside of the patio and hangs inside the patio unless a breeze flaps it into the top-floor airspace. Even then, it takes up no more public air than the bamboo spreading out of a pot in a nearby building or the planter of flowers hanging across the creek from Wallace’s deck.
When Throm got back to me later, she repeated that Allied has no problem with the American flag.
“They’re welcome to put it on a stand on the patio and let it fly or put it inside their patio,” she said.
If you saw the sliding doors that make up the apartment side of the deck, you would recognize how impractical that is.
Throm backed away from the flags and banners provision that isn’t there.
She hit instead on Item 23: “No storage of personal belongings or furnishings will be permitted on porches or public areas. Deck/patio storage is limited to a quarter-cord of firewood, small barbecue, planters and patio furniture.”
No mention of a flag stand there.
Not that Wallace is storing her flag.
She’s displaying it, and proudly.
“I’m not taking it down,” Wallace said. “It’s my right to display it, and it’s staying right where it is.”
I salute her – and her flag.
Kathleen Merryman: 253-597-8677
kathleen.merryman@thenewstribune.com
The office number for the Brookside apartments is (253)535-1670. I called to check the number, it is correct, and I left a message noting my extreme displesure and disappointment that they had ordered the removal of our country's flag.
They have a right to operate the building as they see fit, but we have a right to speak out against their practices. This is apparently a case of an administrator ('portfolio manager') who is squeamish about the sight of the flag and elected to use and abuse her power to that effect.
(On another note, I'm very impressed to see a reporter taking the side of the tenant.)
Betcha $1 if someone displays a gay pride flag not a word would be spoken to them. Disgusting!
I think there is a federal law requiring landlords to allow tenants to install small satellite dishes (in order to compete with cable).
Displaying the flag ought to be protected more than satellite dishes.
My 2¢ to Merryman. Done.
This is disgusting beyond belief! I will call the apt. mgr. quite often and hope others do too! What a 'flag'rant attempt to take away one of the most basic and important of all American rights! I'm steamed!
I'd rather live in a camper or motorhome than an apartment. Years ago I had to live in one. Never again.
I just called the Brookside Apts. and talked to a manager, but not Christy Throm. The manager I talked to, said - "We never asked her to take down her flag, there's two sides to every story." They may be saying this to everyone, after a deluge of complaints, or it may be true. However, you'd think this would have made the article in the first place if true.
Thanks for the update. Did you ask what their side of the story was?
Forgive me if I'm skeptical of 'two sides to every story.' Did they tell her to take it down or not? If the latter, then the News-Tribune article is a hoax, and the reporter is going to get fired. But I have a hard time believing the TNT is hiring Jayson Blairs.
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"Christy Throm is Allied’s portfolio manager responsible for Brookside, and the person who, on a site visit, ordered the flag down."
I'm skeptical too. After rereading the article, I'm convinced something very fishy is going on here.
The manager for the Apt. that answered the phone at about 5:00 PM Pacific time today 7/28/05 said to me that they never asked anybody to take down their flag. Yet, the reporter said she talked to the owner's rep. twice, (see the above article), and the owner's rep. kept trying to use vague clauses to have the flags removed. Somebody's BS-ing!
Either:
(1) The reporter is full of it (always quite possible).
(2) The tenant wants attention or something. OR
(3) The manger and owners have decided to deny they asked for removal of the flags for PR purposes, after many outside inquiries and intense outrage!
I have a strong feeling it's number (3)! I wish I could bet on it!
Thanks for the link! It really looks like Christy Throm, the owners rep., is the beotch here. And now she and the manager are denying everything to cover their arses! I like the TV reporters idea of giving everyone in the apt. complex a flag to display! hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Please include me. I've never freepmailed or been on a ping list. My bro, a very serious follower of politics for 40 years or so, has considered himself a Libertarian for about ten years now and has greatly influenced me to evolve from being an anti-Democrat towards being Libertarian. I just wish the first five letters weren't 'liber'.
Brookside Gardens
804 10th St. Court SE
Tacoma, WA 98903
Thank you for Ms Throm's email!!! I sent her this email titled:Flag removal?
Dear Ms. Throm,
According to two different articles I've read you have requested two tenants at Brookside apartments to remove their US flags from their balconies. One is a disabled veteran and the other has a son and a boyfriend deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. These flags appear to in no way infringe on anyone else unless they are an anti-American freedom hater! Your actions are the most flagrant (pun intended) denial of one of the most important and basic rights an American has to express their patriotism and love for America that I ever imagined anyone would have the gall and audacity to impose on a fellow American. What is your problem??!? Do these flags ruin your vision of ambiance? PATHETIC!!!! If you are anti-war STFU and get out of the way! If you hate America and the flag that much, then why don't you go somewhere else? How 'bout France?
Shocked and disgusted,
B Gibbs
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