Drunken Man Desecrates American Flag
Even the ACLU wouldn’t touch this one. The following story proves that laws that protect the American flag from desecration are still enforceable despite what the ACLU thinks.
David Allen Young of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania was sentenced yesterday to probation for the misdemeanor desecration an American flag. The flag incident occured one night last June when Young got very drunk and began arguing with other family members. At one point, he was outside by the front porch when he ran into the American flag hanging there.
Blinded by the desire for revenge and a whole lot of booze, he wrenched the flag off it’s pole and tossed it to the ground. A neighbor who may have had it out for Young called the police and reported his neighbor’s drunken abuse of the American flag. The police arrested Young for violating a 1972 Pennsylvania law that protects the American flag and the Pennsylavania state flag.
Now comes the interesting part. I mentioned above that the ACLU wouldn’t touch this one, but they wanted to touch it. In fact, both the ACLU and the First Amendment Center looked into the possibility of defending Young. And both the ACLU and the First Amendment Center are constantly vigilant for cases where they can use the First Amendment to further a radical leftist agenda.
But the problem in this case was that Young was just plain uncooperative. He made it clear right from the start (before the lawyers could get to him) that he wasn’t making any type of political statement and that he was drunk and didn’t really remember anything he did that night anyway. Young had this to say when questioned about his motives, "It was a rage thing. I really do love my country."
So in his honesty, Young left the liberal lawyers with nothing to grab onto. Both David Hudson of the First Amendment Center and Larry Frankel of the ACLU, obviously frustrated by the defendent’s contrition, made statements indicating that they were surprised that this obscure law was actually enforced. Better luck next time fellas.