State: State lawmakers rally behind the flag

Flying the flag, it turns out, can be against the rules. Tussles have broken out in some of Florida's planned developments and condominium complexes, where even the tiniest detail is scrutinized to make sure everyone's property conforms.

Some residents were told they couldn't fly a flag on a free-standing pole -- it had to be attached to the house by brackets. Others were told the opposite. In New Port Richey, a man got a letter from his homeowners association saying he had to take a flag off his roof and put it on a pole.

And in Jupiter, a long-running case has a veteran facing foreclosure on his house and about $28,000 in fines, all because he refused a homeowners association order to take down a flagpole in his front yard. Some of his neighbors have turned around and sued their association, saying they are embarrassed to live in a place where a man is persecuted for flying a flag.

Now, several state lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, have filed bills to make it harder for homeowners associations to restrict how people fly their flags.

"My position is, if you can burn a flag, you should certainly be able to display one," said Anna Cowin, a Republican senator from Leesburg who is sponsoring a bill that would make it illegal to restrict how flags are displayed.

Cowin's bill sets stiff penalties: a $5,000 fine for a first offense, $10,000 for a second and jail for the third. Her law would make it "unlawful for any person to prohibit the display of the flag of the United States" unless it posed a health or safety threat. It passed a Senate committee this week.

Sen. Steve Geller, a Democrat from the Broward County community of Hallandale, was the first lawmaker to file a bill to protect a person's right to fly the U.S. flag. He filed his bill on Sept. 17, after hearing complaints from constituents who live in condominiums. His measure would prevent homeowners associations from restricting how people can fly flags, but it doesn't include penalties. It is up for consideration by the full Senate after the Legislature convenes Jan. 22.

"I was personally appalled that in the aftermath of 9-11, while the president and the governor were telling people to fly the flag, and even while the flag was still flying at half-staff, that people were being fined for flying a flag from a flagpole," Geller said.

After the terrorist attacks, Gov. Jeb Bush asked Floridians to fly their flags, and immediately got an earful from people complaining about deed restrictions. He released a statement urging lawmakers to change the law.

"No one should be able to sign away their rights to fly and display Old Glory," Bush wrote on Sept. 15. "While I firmly support in general the right of communities to set their own policies for those who choose to live in them, I nevertheless believe an exemption applies to the flying of our flag."

One Florida activist group, Cyber Citizens for Justice, has taken up the cause of homeowners who are restricted in how they can display their flags.

"Most lawsuits are not about the right to display the flag, but about the way they can display it," said Bob Janauskas, the group's spokesman.

Don Taggart's flag troubles didn't end up in court, but he learned the hard way that homeowners associations can be pretty picky about how property owners fly the flag.

Taggart is a 73-year-old New Port Richey retiree who spent 26 years in the Army. His trouble started last spring, when he tacked a 4-by-7-foot American flag on the front of his house in the Arborwood at Summertree development. On Sept. 12, he added a 5-by-9-foot flag to his roof. The homeowners association asked him to put his flag on a flagpole.

"It didn't sit too well with this old soldier," Taggart said.

Still, he complied.

"It's over with now," Taggart said.

- Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

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