Posted on 09/20/2007 8:15:13 AM PDT by DogByte6RER
Student tears Mexican flag; suspect remains at large
9/19/07
by Jeremy Hunt
Daily Lobo
A student took down a Mexican flag from a flagpole outside Scholes Hall Monday, tore it and took it to the Air Force ROTC office, police said.
A summons was issued for Peter Lynch, 30, by the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court for criminal damage to property, said Lt. Pat Davis, spokesman for UNM Police.
Davis said Lynch is not a member of ROTC, and it is unclear why he took the flag to that office.
Lynch has not been charged because UNMPD cannot find him, Davis said.
UNMPD investigated the vandalism as a potential hate crime, but witnesses from the ROTC office told police it was not a racially motivated crime, Davis said.
"He was frustrated a foreign flag was flown without an American flag nearby," he said. "We're basically investigating it on witness statements."
The Mexican Student Association raised the flag outside Scholes Hall on Friday for Mexican Independence Day, said Cheo Torres, vice president for academic affairs.
Mabel Gonzales, president of the Mexican Student Association, declined to comment.
Torres and interim vice president for institutional diversity Rita Martinez-Purson issued an apology Tuesday from the University for the incident.
"This sort of incident hurts everyone," Torres said. "It's something that you don't expect to see at a place like the University of New Mexico where we celebrate diversity."
Martinez-Purson said the incident caught her off-guard, as well.
"I don't think anything really prepares you for this type of vindictive behavior," she said. "Obviously, we need to have strong dialog across campus about respect for other people and their cultures."
Whether the vandalism was racially motivated or not, it was offensive, especially to the Hispanic community, Martinez-Purson said.
"There's still an impact that has to be dealt with," she said. "He did insult them. His thoughtless behavior had consequences."
The University won't tolerate that kind of behavior, President David Schmidly said.
"It's inexcusable to desecrate a flag," he said. "I'm not going to be very pleasant to deal with on this issue."
What makes the situation worse is that it was a Mexican flag, Schmidly said.
"For God's sake, New Mexico was part of Mexico at one time," he said. "There's tremendous ties, and we have a large population of Hispanics that live in our state and many of them have relatives and connections to Mexico."
Defund UNM. No more American tax dollars to this slime pit.
UPDATE:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1995656/posts
http://www.abqjournal.com/abqnews/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6817&Itemid=2
“Breaking: UNM Student Guilty in Flag Incident”
Written by Bruce Daniels - ABQnewsSeeker
Wednesday, 02 April 2008
“Peter Lynch gets six-month deferred sentence, ordered to anger management.”
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Peter Lynch, the 30-year-old University of New Mexico student who was charged in connection with tearing down a lone Mexican flag flying on the UNM campus, then tearing and trampling it, has just been found guilty in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court of criminal damage to property.
The jury took less than half an hour to reach the verdict, and Lynch showed no emotion as he learned he was guilty of the petty misdemeanor, according to the Journal’s Joline Gutierrez Krueger, who was in the courtroom.
Metro Court Judge Clyde DeMersseman imposed a six-month deferred sentence, which means if Lynch successfully completes probation, the offense will be expunged from his record.
The judge ordered Lynch to replace the flag he destroyed, to perform 48 hours of community service and to successfully complete a program of anger management.”
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