Flag Burner Pilloried by Veterans
September 28, 2009
Times Union, Albany, N.Y.

VALLEY FALLS, N.Y. -- This is a red, white and blue village that is still seeing red after a flag that flew over Iraq was burned by a 21-year-old.

The payback? He was publicly humiliated last Sunday by being duct-taped to the flagpole of Veterans of Foreign War 1938 say he desecrated Sept. 18.

Nick Normile, post commander and Vietnam War veteran, said he's been flooded with calls from media outlets since the events of last week received attention from local TV stations and newspapers. He's been asked to go live on a veterans radio show program from Tennessee, another radio show from Chicago and even received a call from NBC studios in New York City.

But Normile said he's not planning to let the story get any more attention and has declined appearances.

"I'm not trying to be some martyr or hero," Normile said. "I just did what I thought was right."

The 21-year-old appeared intoxicated when he entered the VFW post on the day of the alleged act, Normile said. When the man was refused service for not having a proper ID, he ran out in a fit of anger. He cut the rope of the flag, which had once flown over troops in Iraq, and ignited it with a cigarette lighter.

Two days later, Normile said the man was forced to sit in the sun pilloried for six hours as townspeople gathered across the street for a youth soccer picnic. A sign was hung around his neck detailing what he had done. It recalled the Middle Ages punishment, subjecting him to public humiliation and scorn.

"He'll never disrespect the flag again, I can tell you that," Normile said on Friday.

A week later villagers were hush-hush about the event, but patrons of the post bar gave a nod of agreement to the punishment, pointing proudly to a newspaper clipping of the event on a bulletin board.

Patriotism is on open display in this village of about 500, the walls of a defunct railroad bridge near it's entrance now brightly colored red, white and blue. Most of the historical homes have American flags of their own hanging from porches, some also adorned with the Don't Tread on Me flag, popular with Tea Party activists.

Normile said once he found out what the man had done, he knew he had to be taught a lesson. Normile said he went out hunting for him, but when he couldn't find him at his apartment, he sought the help of the man's uncle to bring him out.

"He manned up, he knew he had punishment coming, " said Normile, who described the young man he refused to identify as guilty and ashamed.

"I told him to think about those kids in the foxhole, and how they had no one to set them free, " Normile said. "It got to him, so I was satisfied. He showed a lot of remorse, no attitude."

Normile said the flag, whose pieces will be retired in a formal ceremony, had significant meaning. The villages auxiliary had been sending toiletries and other goods to Soldiers in Iraq, who then sent back the flag that had flown over their bunker. It was received with great attention and a ceremony.

State troopers and Rensselaer County sheriffs deputies said no charges had been filed by either the VFW post or the man.

and rightly so

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1. We go out and hit people in the mouth.
2. We are Not a charity, we cannot give them the game.-Mike Singletary 10/26/2008
-I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.

Dude picked a bad place to decide to burn the flag. Freakin hippies.

Village justice FTW.

Think like we do or be damned.

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I got a 100.00 he sues AND wins a huge amount from them...

THATS the saddest part....

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#45 Jay Cutler Fan club
#7 Orlando Pace LT mafia member
#1 Denver Bronco cheerleader inspector
2009- Earl Bennett- 70 catchs 1200/10 td!!

tdndenver:

I got a 100.00 he sues AND wins a huge amount from them.

I hope so.

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bearmick:

tdndenver:

I got a 100.00 he sues AND wins a huge amount from them.

I hope so.

I dont... YES what he did was one of the dumbest things you could EVER do. But it is unexcuseable for the VFW guy's to tape him to a flag pole. AND that's the part NO jury will forgive

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#45 Jay Cutler Fan club
#7 Orlando Pace LT mafia member
#1 Denver Bronco cheerleader inspector
2009- Earl Bennett- 70 catchs 1200/10 td!!

He deserved worse. IMO it could be considered a form of treason.

Here is a link to another flag burning but because there is a swear word I won't actually post the picture here....

http://www.websites-host.com/Terrorist-fire.bmp

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"There is only one man I embrace when we meet. And only one I call Coach - George Halas." - Vince Lombardi

Never Die Easy - R.I.P. Walter Payton

he got off light! we would have taken em down to the river and thrown em over the dam.

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We knew ... in that huddle ... there was a group ... destined ... to apply the kind of pressure ... that had not been seen before." ...

tdndenver:

bearmick:

tdndenver:

I got a 100.00 he sues AND wins a huge amount from them.

I hope so.

I dont... YES what he did was one of the dumbest things you could EVER do. But it is unexcuseable for the VFW guy's to tape him to a flag pole. AND that's the part NO jury will forgive

oh please! they should have beaten him within an inch of his life, he's a freakin 21 yr old punk, he should be forced to enlist!

 

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We knew ... in that huddle ... there was a group ... destined ... to apply the kind of pressure ... that had not been seen before." ...

IrishX (aka bornbear):

He deserved worse. IMO it could be considered a form of treason.

Here is a link to another flag burning but because there is a swear word I won't actually post the picture here....

http://www.websites-host.com/Terrorist-fire.bmp

Have you ever considered how irrational it is to idolize a piece of cloth?

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So, Sayers condones extreme violence as a repercussion for non-voilent free expression, and also mandatory military service.

Nice.

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You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it. Malcolm X (1925 - 1965)

tdndenver:

bearmick:

tdndenver:

I got a 100.00 he sues AND wins a huge amount from them.

I hope so.

I dont... YES what he did was one of the dumbest things you could EVER do. But it is unexcuseable for the VFW guy's to tape him to a flag pole. AND that's the part NO jury will forgive

What the kid did was wrong.  It was vandalism of private property.  But the vigilante torch and pitchfork brigade went way over the line.

It's ironic that backward little communities like that seem to want to have their own justice system outside of state and federal law, yet consider themselves to be such big time patriots of the United States of America.

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bearmick:

IrishX (aka bornbear):

He deserved worse. IMO it could be considered a form of treason.

Here is a link to another flag burning but because there is a swear word I won't actually post the picture here....

http://www.websites-host.com/Terrorist-fire.bmp

Have you ever considered how irrational it is to idolize a piece of cloth?

Ever consider how stupid it is to go and burn somebody's cloth?

GRRRRRRRR!! Not going to get suspended for naming ACLU loving lefties, but I'm with ya Sayers!

Jawbreaker09:

You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.

Malcolm X (1925 - 1965)

Please, could you explain to me HOW Malcom X died again?

Was it cancer?
Heart Attack?
Car accident?

I just find it interesting that a Man who "Preached" non-violent protesting...died like this.

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#45 Jay Cutler Fan club
#7 Orlando Pace LT mafia member
#1 Denver Bronco cheerleader inspector
2009- Earl Bennett- 70 catchs 1200/10 td!!

bearmick:

IrishX (aka bornbear):

He deserved worse. IMO it could be considered a form of treason.

Here is a link to another flag burning but because there is a swear word I won't actually post the picture here....

http://www.websites-host.com/Terrorist-fire.bmp

Have you ever considered how irrational it is to idolize a piece of cloth?

it's not the cloth it's what it stands for, and for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for that cloth, i hang around and am a member of our local VFW as was my father and his father before him and i can pretty much guarantee ya if he would have done that here the next time you'd ever see or hear from him again would be on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. and i'm dead serious about that! no one here would have stood for that BS

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We knew ... in that huddle ... there was a group ... destined ... to apply the kind of pressure ... that had not been seen before." ...

swandiver:

bearmick:

IrishX (aka bornbear):

He deserved worse. IMO it could be considered a form of treason.

Here is a link to another flag burning but because there is a swear word I won't actually post the picture here....

http://www.websites-host.com/Terrorist-fire.bmp

Have you ever considered how irrational it is to idolize a piece of cloth?

Ever consider how stupid it is to go and burn somebody's cloth?

I agree, the kid was wrong to vandalize private property.

If you come into my yard and break something, I don't have the right to take the law into my own hands.  Neither did the people in this case.

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SAYERS5140:

bearmick:

IrishX (aka bornbear):

He deserved worse. IMO it could be considered a form of treason.

Here is a link to another flag burning but because there is a swear word I won't actually post the picture here....

http://www.websites-host.com/Terrorist-fire.bmp

Have you ever considered how irrational it is to idolize a piece of cloth?

it's not the cloth it's what it stands for, and for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for that cloth, i hang around and am a member of our local VFW as was my father and his father before him and i can pretty much guarantee ya if he would have done that here the next time you'd ever see or hear from him again would be on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. and i'm dead serious about that! no one here would have stood for that BS

OK, whatever dude. 

Seems like you're all high and mighty about defending what the flag stands for, but you have no respect for the law of the courts in which the same flag hangs.

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wallofdogs:

GRRRRRRRR!! Not going to get suspended for naming ACLU loving lefties, but I'm with ya Sayers!

Really???

So your saying it was ok for THESE guy's to do what THEY did....Because THEY were "Fighting the ACLU lefties"!!!!!

Arrest Made in 1964 Civil Rights Killings
By Ellen Barry, Times Staff Writer|January 07, 2005ATLANTA — Edgar Ray Killen, a preacher and reputed Ku Klux Klan leader, was arrested Thursday in Mississippi on murder charges in the deaths 40 years ago of three young civil rights workers whose bullet-riddled bodies were found buried in an earthen dam.

The arrest came after a Neshoba County, Miss., grand jury heard testimony about the 1964 slayings of Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney, who were killed by a mob of local men the day after they arrived in the small town of Philadelphia, Miss.


DARN those HIPPIES!!!!!!! Good thing they didnt KILL this kid for burning the flag right?
And bury him in a damn, and then pretend to be a preacher for peace.......

right?

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#45 Jay Cutler Fan club
#7 Orlando Pace LT mafia member
#1 Denver Bronco cheerleader inspector
2009- Earl Bennett- 70 catchs 1200/10 td!!

bearmick:

So, Sayers condones extreme violence as a repercussion for non-voilent free expression, and also mandatory military service.

Nice.

taping one to a flagpole is hardly "extreme violence"

swandiver:

bearmick:

So, Sayers condones extreme violence as a repercussion for non-voilent free expression, and also mandatory military service.

Nice.

taping one to a flagpole is hardly "extreme violence"

The crime of unlawfully seizing and carrying away a person by force or Fraud, or seizing and detaining a person against his or her will with an intent to carry that person away at a later time.

The law of kidnapping is difficult to define with precision because it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Most state and federal kidnapping statutes define the term kidnapping vaguely, and courts fill in the details.

Seems pretty simple.....

---

#45 Jay Cutler Fan club
#7 Orlando Pace LT mafia member
#1 Denver Bronco cheerleader inspector
2009- Earl Bennett- 70 catchs 1200/10 td!!

tdndenver:

Jawbreaker09:

You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.

Malcolm X (1925 - 1965)

Please, could you explain to me HOW Malcom X died again? Was it cancer? Heart Attack? Car accident? I just find it interesting that a Man who "Preached" non-violent protesting...died like this.

I knew some one would pull that card sooooo....How bout this one...

 

Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons. Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

or

tdndenver:

Jawbreaker09:

You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.

Malcolm X (1925 - 1965)

Please, could you explain to me HOW Malcom X died again? Was it cancer? Heart Attack? Car accident? I just find it interesting that a Man who "Preached" non-violent protesting...died like this.

I knew some one would pull that card sooooo....How bout this one...

 

Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons. Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

or:

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784),