War Veteran Arrested After Complaints About What He Put In His Own Yard
By Dreamer
A retired war veteran received a knock at his door and was shocked to see some of Iowa’s finest there on a complaint of what was in his front yard. The Iowa resident had recently decided to make a statement on behalf of the land he fought to defend, which apparently wasn’t allowed, and he was swiftly arrested for it.
The quiet town of Somers has likely never seen so much controversy until Homer Martz got creative with his lawn decoration. The defiant war veteran felt that his rights to his property were being trampled on and took matters into his own hands to make a valid point in his front yard. Without warning, he was hauled off to jail for it, further proving what he was trying to say in the first place.
Part of Homer Martz’s display (left)
A flag in the front yard of a home in middle America is nothing out of the norm, except it’s what landed Homer in the hot seat of the law because of how he hung it and what he displayed with it. The outspoken resident learned that the county planned to run an oil pipeline near his property and hadn’t bothered to ask the homeowner’s opinion about it. Homer didn’t want his slice of the American dream being messed with and protested this plan and the incorrect process the city went about approving it, with two flags in his yard to convey his message.
According to KCRG, Homer hung Old Glory upside down as a sign of a nation in distress alongside the Chinese flag, with a poster affixed to the pole that said, “In China, there is no freedom, no protesting, no due process. In Iowa? In America?” Homer didn’t have a clue that what he was doing was considered flag desecration, nor was he given any warning before he was arrested and faced 30-days in jail for it.
Homer Martz’s illegal display (left), Homer Martz outside his home (right)
“They said, ‘You can’t do this. We have a statute.’ I said I’m sorry but you shouldn’t have took them down,” Homer told The Messenger. “So I walked back out and put them back up, and they arrested me.”
Title 4, Section 8 of the U.S. Code states that “the flag should never be displayed with the union down except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.” It’s not uncommon, especially now with the state of our nation, for patriots to display the flag upside down as a sign of extreme danger the country is currently in. However, Homer’s statement he was making with it was apparently not permissible, since he was protesting the county not conducting due diligence over the pipeline.
While the police officers were just doing their job, this man should be able to say what he wants to about a controversial issue that affects his property, especially since he was denied due process in making it happen without his consent. If anti-American idiots have the right to burn our flag, then a veteran who risked his life defending it should be allowed to hang it upside down as a signal that his country or his county is in turmoil.
h/t: [BizPacReview]
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