California: Flags cause wave of unrest

The Orange County Register ^ | Thursday, May 30, 2002 | ERIKA I. RITCHIE

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

2 Laguna Beach residents are in a zoning face-off with officials and neighbors over their patriotic gesture.

LAGUNA BEACH

[Mr. Lucky]

The Supreme Court has ruled that burning a flag is protected speech; wonder if they will give flying a flag the same protection?

[Arkinsaw]

The Supreme Court has ruled that burning a flag is protected speech; wonder if they will give flying a flag the same protection?

On your own property? Not likely.

[sheik yerbouty]

Don't bet on it. Laguna is a Caliban stronghold.

[Mr. Lucky]

You're right, of course. I keep forgetting that property rights aren't human rights. But what if he could prove that a snail darter or some bottom feeding sucker lived in his cistern?

[aomagrat]

My dad lives in Laguna Beach and he hates it. He refers to the Design Review Board as the Design Nazis. He has bought a house in Riverside County and is moving next month. The fellow who bought my dad's Laguna Beach house applied to the city for a renovation permit. It was denied on the grounds that renovation would interfere with "tourist season", and he was told to resubmit his request in January 2003.

[A Navy Vet]

There is no one more patriotic than me, and the Flag has flown from my house since September 12, 2001. But c'mon, a laser light show right in from of the guy's view...more than a little inconsiderate.

[Mr. Lucky]

If the city government dislikes yardlighting, it should outlaw yardlighting; as a rural, Hoosier coon hunter, I personally miss those fall nights of my youth when it actually got dark at night. In Laguna the City apparently doesn't prohibit the lights, only what's being lit. That amounts to an infringement of protected speech.

[MEGoody]

These are some people who don't have enough to do. I've got some windows they could be washing if they are so bored they have to find things to complain about.

[MEGoody]

There was no laser light show. There was a beam of light shining on the flags at night, as is called for in the guidelines for flag display.

[Aim small miss small]

Don't bet on it. Laguna is a Caliban stronghold.

Yo Sheik, that's good, Caliban, I like it.

[A Navy Vet]

It's a residential neighborhood...he should give his neighbors a break. It's not like he's out on a ranch somewhere. Selfish people like him are the reason for stringent zoning laws.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

The Supreme Court has ruled that burning a flag is protected speech; wonder if they will give flying a flag the same protection?

This is what I would like to know.

The solution to people burning the flag of the United States of America is local fire ordinances.

If you can't yell "fire" in a crowded theatre, why should someone be able to light one?

[MP5SD]

I live on a small ranch in the mtns of Colorado and the only light I see is one neighbors over a mile away. He has a light that looks like a 747 landing light. He can burn the tops off my fence posts with that thing. Light just for the sake of light. I take my flag in every night, don't let it touch the ground, and fold it up right.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Virga said the lighting impaired his view and ruined the peace of his evenings.

"The real problem is that they had a laser-like beam shooting up to the flags," he said.

"When you walk on my deck it's the first thing you see. They're directly in front of my view. I see three lasers shooting into the sky and I'm looking at their Disneylandish-looking house.

I agree, kill the lights and fly an American flag in day time. I don't blame the neighbor for getting pissed. Sounds like a shrine.

I personally fly a 6x4 foot flag on a 25 foot pole in the day. Get two of the flags out of the neighbors faces at night and kill the freaking lights.