Two American Flag Burners Going To Jail
It’s been a bad year for folks that burn the American flag in this country. Two misguided young men will get some jail time for two unrelated flag burning incidents.
Eighteen year-old Scott Baber of Sarasota Florida is unhappily facing six months in the lock up, but it could have been worse. Baber was facing an eight year stretch for three counts of arson but luckily for him, the Judge was in a forgiving mood. Circuit Court Judge Charles Roberts felt that Baber’s drunken rampage in which he and another man used kerosene to burn the American flags on several houses as well as the community’s clubhouse was "unquestionably an anomaly."
The Judge referred to Baber as an "outstanding citizen," except, of course, when he’s drinking and committing arson. In the American flag burning spree that Baber and his co-defendent claimed was justified because they are Anarchists and were protesting, one house suffered damage from fire. At the time of arrest, the two men also had bottles filled with kerosene with rags stuffed in the tops. Those used to be known as Molotov Cocktails and would pretty much destroy anything they were thrown at.
All in all, there were eight charges: three as a principal to arson, one for possession of a firebomb and four counts of criminal mischief. Baber plead guilty to all charges.
And in California, Lee Henry Vollick will spend only ten days in jail in addition to three years probation. Nineteen-year-old Vollick took an American flag and dragged it behind his scooter as a protest last July 2nd. Not generating the reaction he had hoped, he returned with the now soiled American flag to California Oaks Sports Park where the city of Murrieta was holding it’s 14th birthday celebration.
Vollick made his way into the crowd that was gathered for a concert, and with a lighter, lit the flag on fire. Many of the attendees were rather unhappy to see the American flag being burned and confronted Vollick, who was eventually arrested. He was charged with resisting a police officer.
If he had gone to trial, Vollick may have possibly faced a year in jail. As it is, he’s happy not to be facing a long jail sentence because it would curtail his efforts to "be online and get my message out to people."
What a glutton for punishment. The last time he got his "message out to the people" by burning an American flag with "the people" all around him, he got the crap beat out of him.