Asheville – A couple who said they were protesting the state of the country by flying the U.S. flag upside down with signs pinned to it found themselves in jail following a scuffle with a deputy Wednesday morning. Mark and Deborah Kuhn were arrested on two counts of assault on a government employee, resisting arrest and a rarely used charge, desecrating an American flag, all misdemeanors. The Kuhns were released from custody Wednesday afternoon. “This is surreal,” Deborah Kuhn, 52, said moments after her son Mark Stidham paid $1,500 bond to get the couple out of jail. Arrest reports show Buncombe County Sheriff’s deputy Brian Scarborough went to the Kuhns’ home on 68 Brevard Road about 8:45 a.m. Wednesday to investigate a complaint of an American flag on display after being desecrated.... ....Sorrells said a resident approached Scarborough while he was on duty and alerted him to the flag. Sorrells said he did not know where the person approached Scarborough or what the deputy was doing. According to the Sheriff’s Office, Scarborough went to the Kuhns’ home and gave Mark Kuhn a copy of the flag desecration statute. Scarborough told the Kuhns the flag was being displayed illegally. Although the Kuhns live within the Asheville city limits, Sorrells said the complaint was made to a deputy. “We have jurisdiction throughout the whole county of Buncombe,” Sorrells said. “We have a citizen that complains to us about a violation of law, we’re bound by oath to act on it.” Scarborough told Mark Kuhn he was going to be issued a citation and asked for identification. Kuhn refused, slammed the door on the deputy’s hand, breaking the glass pane out of the door and cutting Scarborough’s hand, the Sheriff’s Office said. Deborah Kuhn said they removed the flag from their front porch after Scarborough threatened to cite them, but they objected to showing Scarborough their IDs, which he needed to write the tickets. Scarborough then broke into their house and came after them, they said. “He tried to keep us from closing the door, but we managed to get it closed,” Deborah Kuhn said. “We locked the door and he broke the glass to our front door and proceeded to assault my husband, saying, ‘You’re under arrest.’” http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770725118 This is truly sad. Anyone with any knowledge of constitutional law knows that such a law is blatantly unconstitutional, and will be struck down. Though I imagine this will be seized on by right wingers are further proof of the "need" for a constitutional amendment to protect the flag. Completely missing the point by elevating the symbol over the freedom it is supposed to stand for. And I can't help but imagine the deputy as Eric Cartman saying "Respect my authoritah!" The comments section for the linked article is mind boggling. There really does seem to be a large segment of the population of this country that would welcome a fascist state if it meant they could punish people for having opinions contrary to their own. I hope these people are completely exonerated, and I hope it costs the county a very large sum of money. And I hope this meathead deputy gets transferred to being a dogcatcher (or fired outright).
The modern icon and its sanctimoniously righteous, versus the modern iconoclast. They could've called it art and gotten away with it. Ha.
One of the comments about this story on Fark was "We're fighting to bring democracy to Iraq, so we don't have to have it here."
All the guy had to do was identify himself, accept the citation, then fight it in court. Instead he chose the confrontational route, and now he's paying for his idiocy. And some of y'all seem to be cheering that idiocy. Why? Baron Max
They willingly took the flag down. Even under an unconstitutional law, what offense was left to issue a citation for? Do you feel fine with the idea of having to produce identification at any time or place for any law enforcement that demands it of you?
taking it down was an admission of guilt. as far as asking for id, when a law is broken, no matter how small, it is common to ask for id. that is how they check for bigger crimes. saves the grief of 'they had him but they let him go'.
He knew who they were. He was at their house. If they had been dealing with a reasonable person, what further action would have been necessary after the flag was taken down? Someone complained, the police investigated, and took no action. Apparently not satisfied with that, they again complained, and a sheriff's deputy responded, and informed them of the law. To comply with the (blatantly unconstitutional) law, they took the flag down. I can't help but think that deputy dawg was personally offended, and decided to push it as far as he could. They may not have responded in the best manner possible, but their behavior pales in comparison to the behavior of the law enforcement officer involved. He is clearly unfit for the position.
I used to live in North Carolina and I worked near Asheville. I've got to hand it to these guys, regardless of whether I agree with them I applaud them - it really takes a pair to fly the flag upside down around those parts.
