Posted on 11/24/2001 9:03:06 AM PST by real saxophonist
Vandals burn vet's flag, steal a second one
Story By Julio Ochoa
When Ron Hoagland walked out his front door Friday morning, he found the charred remains of his American flag dangling from a pole that hangs from his porch.
Hoagland, a Vietnam veteran, said he couldn't believe that someone would sneak into his yard in the 1900 block of 34th Avenue on Thanksgiving night and set fire to the symbol of freedom.
"It's a slap in the face for the people who have fought for that flag," said Hoagland, who served in the Army as a helicopter pilot during the war. "They certainly don't understand the significance of what people have gone through for their freedom."
Police are searching for the people responsible for burning Hoagland's flag and for stealing a flag from a neighbor's house across the street.
Officers are also patrolling the neighborhood in an attempt to keep similar situations from occurring, said Sgt. Dave Beckmann, spokes-man for the Greeley Police Department. The charge for burning a flag while it is attached to a home is arson, Beckmann said.
"In that case it could be a significant arson and a possible felony because it puts the residents of the home in danger," he said. Hoagland's neighbor, who doesn't want to be identified for fear of retaliation, said she is upset about the theft.
"It drives me nuts that somebody is so low," she said. "As far as I'm concerned, they're just as bad as (Osama) bin Laden."
Hoagland said he is unsure why they were targeted while other flags on the same street were left alone.
"I don't think I've got any enemies in the neighborhood," he said. "It was probably just teenagers out running around with nothing better to do."
But that doesn't make it any easier to understand, he said. "It's a sad state of affairs when that is what people have to resort to to get their kicks. Especially at this sensitive time in our country," Hoagland said. He has another American flag in his basement, but he doesn't want to risk flying it, he said.
"That one has some sentimental value," he said. "The Veterans Association gave it to me when my father died, so I am reluctant to put it out."
The only way that the criminals responsible will be brought to justice is by other patriots keeping an eye out for flag burners in their yards, Hoagland said.
If they are caught, some form of community service would be a good punishment, he said.
"That would make them lose some time and freedom while they think about what they did," Hoagland said.
The perils of equivalency.
WRONG !!!!!
Two words: MEAN DOG
rottweiler, halogen
Signed,
A Vet
PLEASE, the world is full of fools, and a$$e$, some of them just happen to live here. Heck some of them are my family and neighbors!
If someone wishes to burn their own flag, they have the right to do so. Attempts to revoke Fourteenth-Amendment "equal protection" for such people are not legitimate. On the other hand, I can't see any constitutional problems with a law allowing people to use heavy-handed means to protect their own flags from those who would steal or desecrate them.
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