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."
Just fired off a letter to their president. His actions are reprehensible.
Well, you could get a bunch of neighbors to go as a group to that house and politely and clearly explain to the neighbor that this is America and in America we fly the Stars and Stripes, not the flag of foriegn nations. ANd that his flag is a show of disprespect to the neighbors on your street and to each veteran who fought for this Nation.
Maybe a bit of peer pressure will get that flag down.
Don’t suggest you do this in the dark, late at night, while carrying pitchforks, torches, lanterns, and lengths of rope though...they might get the wrong idea.
On the other hand...
I hope this guy is never found, and even if he is, I hope no charges are pressed against him.
““Mexican” is not a race!
I guess France was just being racist when Germany invaded France?””
Actually, “hispanic” is not a race.
To wit: I have seen this on “voluntary” race forms for human resources: Persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
Since its official adoption in 1997, the definition and usage of the term by the Federal Government is strictly as an ethnic, as opposed to racial, identifier, used together with the term Hispanic.
So pretty much, if you have a Spanish sounding surname, or can’t say more than “no habla English,” you are considered “hispanic” and bundled off to a bilingual ed course to ensure that you never do learn English.
Exactly - folk fly the CBF because of their “heritage” - that’s fine, Mexicans have a heritage too, as do Chinese, Russian, Irish, German,......
Since this realization dawned upon me, I only fly the Stars and Stripes..
Now that I think about it, I probably should’ve flown the Jamaican flag during college.
Not when you only have one pole. :)
Comments suborning illegal behavior will be shot on sight. Carry on.
Quit dissing Louisiana like that.
"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."
Schmidly is an ass.
Oklahoma was fortunate to get rid of him........
Are you saying there should be a law? Currently there is no law that says an American flag has to be flown as well. Incidentally, I think any such law would be unconstitutional. It would interfere with freedom of expression. BTW, this isn’t really a big deal. My neighbor flies a swiss flag because his wife is from Switzerland. A local hotel flies flags from at least a dozen different countries. Who cares?
The American Flag should have been the ONLY one flying.
I’ve always liked the Swiss flag. Simple, but beautiful (and symbolic).
I believe freedom of expression allows you to desecrate any flag you like as long as you ‘own’ the flag being desecrated.
http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/uscmain.html
“No person shall display the flag of the United Nations or any other national or international flag equal, above, or in a position of superior prominence or honor to, or in place of, the flag of the United States at any place within the United States or any Territory or possession . . . “
He was just enforcing the laws Americans aren’t enforcing.
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