ATV Florida Forum

Dear editor:
Right In My Own Backyard
I am a member of the Kansas Army National Guard. I am a former marine as
well. I returned home from 15 month's active duty in Kosovo last January. I
am scheduled to re-deploy June 4th of this year for another 18 months and I
will be serving in a war zone which I am not at liberty to disclose. I
volunteered for this duty as an opportunity to serve my country again.

On Monday, May 1st, I was at the Lyon County Fairgrounds to observe the
immigration rally. On my truck I proudly displayed both the American flag
and the flag of the United States Marines.

Within minutes of arriving at the parking lot I was approached by no less
than 4 law enforcement vehicles and several officers. I was ordered to
immediately remove the flags from my vehicle.

When I attempted to ask why, an officer replied, "Shut your mouth and go
home". I was told if I didn't comply that I would be arrested without delay
for disorderly conduct. There was no opportunity to reason with the police.
I was given an ultimatum and was forced to comply or forfeit my freedom.

I'll not go into the obvious implications that this incident raises. I will
leave it to you and to your readers to explain how it is that as a citizen
and solider I was not allowed to display the flag of the nation that I
serve and protect. Meanwhile I stood in a sea of flags from foreign
nations, some waived by hand, others attached to vehicles. I was also
profanely insulted by one of the demonstrators who himself was flying a
Mexican flag from his vehicle.

I would ask that each of you who read this ponder the inference of the
actions of the officers in question, what it says about our country at
present and the ominous implications of the future.

The immigration issue is not a joke; it is a matter of huge proportion
concerning the security of our nation and the safety of our people.

I have seen a lot in my military career and many things have moved me
deeply but not until this heartbreaking incident was I literally reduced to
tears. The disrespect and outright hatred shown to me by both the
demonstrators and by the law enforcement officers of my own hometown was
heartrending.


Is this now North Mexico...or what...feel free to pass this on.

that is BS and a sad day in american history!!!!!!  :gr

I question the origination of the original letter. However, If this truly happened then he is a fool for complying. Personally, I would have gone to jail for refusing to comply. It is our constitutional right to fly our countries flag.
The press would have picked that up and he would be a wealthy man when the movie come out.

TRue I cant tell you 100% but the way things are going It is hard to dibelieve!

Also once you got done the city and state law suites that would have been won. 

They curse us as americans, call us bullys, spit on our soldiers that are risking their lives to protect them in a country 1000s of miles away from home, and then have the nerve to gather and march in protest, because they want to become american citizens. How do you reason with that mentality. Makes me wanna stomp on every one of em necks, dig their eyes out with a fork and feed em to my dog. Then they wanna walk around disney world beggin us to take their picture. Thats all ive got to say about that. Liable to go postal, the opprotunities are endless around here.   ;D

we NEED to kick all those stupid imigrants out!!! if they dont like us they should be killed immideatly. it pisses me off!!! Americans telling you to take a flag off your truck. they should die too. >:(

we do too much for those people and they treat us like dirt.

by the way thanks for your service to the U.S.

YOU TELL ME WHEN AND WHERE AND ILL SHOW UP
WITH MY AMERICAN FLAG  ON MY TRUCK!!!


IF THEY WANT ME TO TAKE IT OFF OR LEAVE
WELL THEN THEY CAN KISS MY A..

AMEN!

H3ll yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is basically an unbelievable story to me. I can't imagine ANY law enforcement officer telling you to remove your American Flag as well as your Marine flag. That's a lawsuit waiting to happen. Maybe there's something your not telling us? Were you acting disorderly? Were you making a scene or disrupting the rally in some way?

 (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/Chuck_Norris/nation.bmp)

So let me get this straight, you pulled up to observe the mexican parade and the police told you to take off the flags and leave. This is insane. Im with them. I would have said, fine arrest me.. Cause thats not right you are not only a citizen but a solider that puts your life on the line everday for this country so that those scumbags can arrest you for flying the american flag IN AMERICA?!?!?!. Dude you need to tell somebody this that has legal pull and get your self a lawsuit. I would not stand for this and neither should anyone..  >:(

So let me get this straight, you pulled up to observe the mexican parade? Are you going to observe gay pride day next? All of the immigration activities were on TV and there were plenty of American flags everywhere, so what made your presence so offensive or threatening to a peaceful parade that you had to be asked to leave? And, for the record, I think it's wrong to publicly fly any flag or stick any decal or sticker on your home or car other than an American flag. You can be proud of your Polish heritage by displaying the Polish flag inside you own home or by going to your local Polish-American club. The letter spreads hate, not an immigration opinion.

before you guys jump on me i agree with ya'll 100%.

the police were  probably tryin to keep the peace.

think of it as if the kkk would pull up to a million man march.

i thank god for our armed forces and the men that give us this right and make this the greatest country to live in.

  :Clap.gif I can belive it i say we send them all back to their countries,FREEDOM IS NOTFREE
LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!!!!! >:(
(http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a101/Dukes979/1american_flag_and_eagle.jpg)

I was at the Lyon County Fairgrounds to observe the
immigration rally.

this was an E-MAIL I rcvd from a friend in that part of the USA.It was supposedly sent in to the editor of a small town paper.Its actually not the letter it is the POINT??

Dont anyone see this happening?Like flying a rebel flag @ million man,Flags say DIKS for chiks silly faggot @ gay pride.Some freedoms are condoned & some are not.Those with the deepest pockets & the most amount votes wins..

Just something to discuss not beat each other up about.

Sad but this is the way our great country is going...

Judging by the responses to this heresay, others used your point to spread their hate. And, that's how sympathetic supporters become adversaries.

You can be sure I'm paying attention whenever anyone tries to turn an opinion into a forum to spread hate. Because, the world is full of angry people just looking for excuses or blame others for and provoke violence. For example, a couple of weeks ago, a young white punk attempted to attack an NFL All-Pro defensive player in a case of road rage, repeatedly shouting the N-word. He was arrested and charged with a hate crime. Two reasons I hate that story. One is that the punk would not have got so excited if he'd had a fender-bender with one of his comrades from the trailer park, and two, if he had he would not have been charged with a hate crime. Another road rage example occured yesterday, only this time an innocent driver was killed in a head-on collision when an enraged driver bumped another car into oncoming traffic. You have a right to your opinion, until your rage injures someone. 

Next time bring a video camera and sit it in your truck record it.
Then send it to one of news media stations such as cnn or fox news
i know alot people be coming down there and telling them off.

But,I think we should have right flag fly a american flag and any kind flag you
should have right to flyby.
Heck i even got a flag cb flag wilp with usa flag and florida flag
and rebel flag too.. I think we should have right to fly any kind of flag
that means let your freedom fly.

The cop sounds like crazy nut down there!!!
 Any redneck up here would said:kiss my azz i have right to fly my flag!!
they, would put it on news and all over radio stations here even
 newspapers here.. I know i'm right about that one too!!

You should talk to neal boozt he's a liberal  freedom fighter
on radio talk shows he talks alot about united states the way things are. :)
I listen to him on one of gainesville fm stations here once in great while...  ;)

Thanks,
amhighlander  8)

I understand  what saying about that..
When bush leaves white house i'll be glad if that happens
and maybe they can reopened all close down navy bases here in states
and the one in Puerto Rico needs be reopened
becuase there's noting wrong with puerto rican people there and they
are very nice people there and they treat children very good there.

But,the other day i was reading on yahoo news the other day
the whole island of puerto rico was runing out of money and they
 had shutdown 1800 schools in each city and each town.
But i hope navy base reopens back up 
and remake a new test bombing range offshore somewhere with
man made island.

But,hey bushwacker  things will work out in longrun
i always say what comes around and goes around. ;)

I'm sorry but second hand stories are ALWAYS suspect.  It may or may not be true and until the truth is known I'll withhold judgement.

It would not surprise me in the least if that story was true. I'm sure they will win their freedom weather we agree with it or not. When they do win their freedom, I will be looking at moving to Canada or some other country. I do not have any respect what so ever for the illegals, they are a poison to our society and they think that walking out of work and school and waving their countrys flag in our country should merit them freedom for some reason. Don't agree with me? I do not care.

I agree, what your saying about that. :ThumbsUp.gif
Thats true illegals need go back where they came from or just work for their Us citzenship :deal.gif .I can understand if they wanna stay for that if
they wanna work so hard by earning it!! >:(

But I can see what  your coming from on that one..
I understand what your saying about that!!! :)

My parent s emigrated to US in germany in 1965.Dad was a longshoreman & was denied access to NY because there were too many.Mom was a hairdresser & pregnant w/me.She was allowed in.They seperated my parents for 2 weeks.My DAD was sponsored into NJ with a blessing of luck.They were reunited somhow,Mom couldnt speak engish & DAD some.They settled in NYC where DAD worked 18+ hours a day 6-7 days a week for minimum wage in 1965...MOM says he was to tired & missed the first 4 years of my life........

>>>>12 years later were fortunate enough to be granted a citizenship hearing both were fluent in english at this time.They were told if they didnt pass the test they were deported..Talk about hard times.Both stood up & recited pledge of allegiance & were ultimately US citizens & renounced German citizenship.

What happened to this country? I feel they proved they were worthy by actions & not gifts.So talk about hatred for free ride free healthcare etc...They did not get anything they did not earn!

Why should things have changed????

cause the goverment is screwed up!!!

Thats, is so true about that, our goverment is so screw up
so badly and even our  presdent of united states screw up
this country so bad for last six years so far >:(.

But, one thing about bush he is more like his father it's
in bush family blood. :lecture.gif  >:D  :Y

I know what your coming from  on that iuess
about that! :)

u shoulda let them arrest ya then sued their @..es off n gotten a new 4-wheeler ;) shoulda shuved a boot + the flag up their @..es

I doubt the accuracy of this story.
No police officer worth his badge would order a marine to take down his flags. I would be more pissed off at the cops if this were true.
I just cant believe that any officer would do that , he'd have to be out his mind to follow an order of that type.

Do you guys honetly believe that these mexican immigrants don't WORK??  I own a business with over 20 mexican/central american employee's and these guys are the hardest working individuals there are.  If I hire a white or a black man to do this type of work, they will only put in 40 hours, will not do the harder types of labor, and either have a drinking or a drug problem and don't show up half the time.

All these mexicans want to do is WORK and not have to worry about "la migra".  For example, my dads foreman, and best friend of 14 years, speaks fluent english.  He has two kids that are citizens.  he's a home owner, owns his own restaurant in addition to working for my dad, and has paid taxes for FIFTEEN YEARS without ONE tax return!!  He has never been arrested, or gotten as much as a speeding ticket.

INS and Homeland Security arrested him a few months ago because he tried to get a passport to fly to Mexico to take his young kids to see their grandparents before they died.  The grandfather died a few weeks later and they never got to see them.

This guy is a better citizen than most of us.  He's tried so many times to get citizenship through lawyers and what not and all they do is take the money and tell him to go f**k himself.  What's he going to do? he can't sue them.  So he dealt with it.  He's spent almost $10,000 to get citizenship and he has nothing to show for it.

All these guys want to do is work Monday-Saturday and drink beer Saturday night and Sunday day.  Thats all.  If they could pay taxes, they would.  They don't mind.  They ask to borrow money and pay us back the next week.  They show up everyday.  The break their backs for $9 an hour.  So say what you want about this situation but DON'T say something as IGNORANT as "They should WORK for their citizenship".


What the government needs to do is grant citizenship to the 12 million immigrants in the country IF they are willing to learn english.  Then, if they slip up ONCE, they're deported.  After this, they need a WALL ON THE BORDER, NATIONAL GUARD ON THE BORDER, and they need to cave in the tunnels they've dug from tijuana to LA.

My dad is a supervisor for highrise projects in Lee and surrounding counties and his imigrant workers are less than useless. They never do anything right, they care less if they show up to work on time, and they make the projects fall behind due to their lack of proper work ethic. The only reason they even have the job is because they work for less than what other people will work for and there is high demand for workers...You must have been blessed with some rare immigrant workers SoFlaEiger.

Ive had Latin employees as well when I owned nursery & landscape-lawn maintenenace business.There are alot of hard working ones out there! But there are also the ones with alcohol,theft,drug problems.Kind of like the few ATVers dumping trash & tearing stuff up makes it look bad as a whole!

If they can prove they are worthy by going through the proper legal avenues then by all means let them stay.Its the millions that have no desire to learn english,pay taxes,overwelm the public health system & services the gangs drug dealers thiefs that I have the problem with!

I am a construction foreman also DR. Dirt and I agree with you 100%. We don't necessarily have a problem with a labor shortage but we sure have a problem with quality. Same problems as far as showing up late and missing work. They don't care cause they know there is no one to replace them but another illegal immigrant!  As for you Soflaeiger you too are breaking the law just like the illegal immigrants for hiring them (same as my company),  yet if I were to fire them all or call INS what do ya think would happen to my job? You should be ashamed to place greed over your desire to follow the law and act as a responsible American citizen.They are not all willing to pay taxes, as most of them don't understand what income taxes are.  I also agree with Bushwacker, if they want to be citizens then they should act like citizens. Should we let Sadamm Hussein or Bin Laden come to do their time in American prisons if they desired it ,or as the Mexicans do, demand it (same rights as American citizens that is).We owe no "illegal' immigrants anything in this country other than basic "human Rights" in my eyes! No one to blame though but our own government!

I think this whole post has become a immigration debate. If you guys would mind scrolling back up to the begining of the post and re-reading what it says. Its about a marine that was simply flying his countrys flag and was told to take it down because of the fact that there was a immagration rally nearby. So were not here to exchange stories about mexican workers, were here to give our oppion on what happened to this guy and stand up for whats right!

Idea, pass a new bill in congress to oppose any american citizen using illegal aliens will be deported A.S.A.P. That would solve the immigration problem. If nobody's hiring, they will go home then. ::) You got to get rid of the demand ;)

I think, somebody  :)
should start a immigration voting polled
on here and I think all legal aliens should go back to there country,becuase
if they are not working hard enough to earn their Us citzenship to live here and
then they go back to mexcio.I think, all of them should go back where they came from
and they are, using up on our tax dollers$$ to burn up our income money$$ here in united states.  >:(

This happening all over the Nation. It is not only in our country, there has been articles in the papers and on the net about not being able to put our Nations flag on place that we have conqured in Iraq.

So now we "conquered" Iraq? We were told that we were going in to "liberate" Iraq! Or, was that just another lie? I share many of the same opinions expressed in this topic, until the discussion starts suggesting violence because violence begets violence and quite often involves innocent people. For example, check out www.pinkpistols.org

Most of the mexicans are happy to be here and break there backs working, and they're good at it. I say, if they pay taxes, speak english, and don't mind our flag. They can be citizens. It's like ATV riders, the many are given the reputation of the few. Personally, I think the government is screwed up, and the news only shows the bad things happening, and only the good things when they're real important. Any idea how many people we've saved in iraq, or an idea of how many people are saved by fire fighters, and police officers in the US every day. No, because all the news wants to care about at the moment is the American body count in Iraq.  >:( Also, we should be ENTIRELY allowed to fly our flag in iraq and the people there should be greatful for us coming there to overthrow the horrible government. Am I saying they can't fly their flags with ours? No way. They can fly their flags wherever they want if they deserve it. I'm building a flag pole to put the american flag on tha back of my quad right now, so you guys should be able to spot us real easy next time we get out there.

If the news didn't report the news("bad stuff"), we'd have been shown and told that we found WMDs, the fountain of youth, the cure for cancer and Utopia in Iraq! We'd have never learned of Monica's head-bob of Billy-Bob and all of the potential lives lost on her dress! LOL

Not to sound like a jerk, but It was assinine for you to agree to the policemen.


Know the law, know what you can and can't do. They cannot tell you to put that away, First Amendment.

You should have ignored them and gone on your own way. If they tried to arrest you, you should have let them and sued the county/sherriffs office for amendments.

As big and mighty as that sounds it comes down to knowing police dont have nearly as many ways to get you in trouble as you believe they do.

Thats BS.......................This immigration is for real :o

Well americans would have more jobs without them :-\...But would an american pick strawberries all-day ???

I met a girl at church who was here as a missionary from russia .She went thru all the proper channels with the INS and recieved a working visa(pay taxes on all income).After about 3 months of her being here she liked the oppertunities available in this country and decided she wanted to stay.She then applied for a green card and after 2 years of applying she finally recieved her green card.All these illegals have to do is follow the proper channels,but they don't want to .they prefer paying no taxes driving without insurance and getting free hospital visits when injured.But anyway this girl is now my wife has been for 10 years .and 3 years after we were married she took her citizens test and became a naturalized citizen .Anyone who tries to become an American can be an American,it just takes work and devotion .just as our military is devoted to defending us. :)