PORT ANGELES — No charges will be filed against two owners of flags initially deemed improper and they will be allowed to keep their flags, Police Chief Tom Riepe said Sunday.
Only one person actually was cited, Riepe said. Eugene Voight was cited on the Fourty of July for “improper display of a flag” after he displayed an American flag with a Star of David in the star field on his car in front of the courthouse.
The 51-year-old Voight, who is not Jewish, said he made the flag to protest the United States’ relationship with Israel, which he thinks has too much influence over the country and its policies.
“I hope you know that I do love my country. I don’t expect to make friends. I don’t own anything that doesn’t say made in the U.S.A.,” Voight said.
Voight’s case was referred to the city attorney’s office. Riepe said Sunday it was his understanding that the case would be dismissed, based on past court cases.
A few days after Voight was cited, a patrol sergeant told Rainey and Chad Hawk that the American flag they fly, with an American Indian across the stripes, was a violation of state law.
The couple flies the flag, along with a Prisoner of War flag, outside their Rain Bear studio at Eighth and Cherry streets.
However, that case never was referred to the prosecutor, Riepe said.
Based upon the research the city attorney’s office already had done on Voight’s case and the Police Department’s follow-up research, police decided not to cite the Hawks, Riepe said.
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The rest of this story appears in the Monday Peninsula Daily. Click on SUBSCRIBE to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.
