Police State: In Our Own Backyard
By
Flag-defiling charge ends in fight, arrests
Mike McWilliams, of the Citizen-Times, reports ” 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.
State law prohibits anyone from knowingly mutilating, defiling, defacing or trampling the U.S. or North Carolina flags. Lt. Randy Sorrells of the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office said the Kuhns desecrated the flag by pinning signs to it, not by flying it upside down.
An upside-down flag typically is flown as a distress signal. The Kuhns said they flew it this way not out of disrespect but to symbolize the state of the country.
Deborah Kuhn said the signs pinned to the flag included an explanation on the meaning of an upside-down flag and asked to “help our country.†One of the signs was a photo of President Bush with “Out Now†written on it, they said…”
Read the rest of the article.
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What is becoming of our democracy these days: No fly lists, indefinite detentions, torture facilities, and police state tactics?
And now here in our beloved, Asheville?
For Shame….
George Bush desecrating the American Flag by signing his name to it; no charges filed.
24 Comments
July 26th, 2007 at 8:45 am
Thanks for posting this Uptown.
While we’re on the subject of local politics, the Mountain Xpress ran a first-blush rundown of the candidates for city council.
Elaine Lite’s own site is here – http://www.electelaine.org. Scrutiny Hooligans will have a lot more of Elaine for you soon.
Also – Brownie Newman, playing political catchup, wants to make some amends, but Carl Mumpower doesn’t think Newman should have the chance.
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July 26th, 2007 at 8:47 am
Oh hell. I just realized it.
Deborah Kuhn once called me a traitor to my country for not believing that 9/11 was an inside job.
Small town.
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July 26th, 2007 at 9:31 am
I know, I know – Consolidate my comments…
Anyway – For some real fireworks, check out the comment thread at the AC-T on this story. At 9:30 a.m. it’s already a hundred comments long. There are veiled threats, accusations of fascism, rumors about the arrest involving Mrs. Kuhn slapping the deputy. It’s a hoot!
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July 26th, 2007 at 9:38 am
Speaking of fascism in America…
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July 26th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Matthew Rothschild wrote about this ongoing problem in “You Have No Rights.” It’s subtitled ” Chilling stories of ordinary Americans whose everyday liberties have been violated since September 11.” Here’s what his publisher, the New Press had to say:
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July 26th, 2007 at 10:37 am
The people who are bashing the Kuhns seem to be the same ones who bashed the city for fining the fireworks vendor for improperly displaying the flag. So, uh…what am I missing here?
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July 26th, 2007 at 10:49 am
I think the Kuhn’s attitude toward, and assault on, the officer is the reason why they were popped, and this whole flag business seems to be a way for them to be confrontational (not that I have a problem with that)with their community.
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July 26th, 2007 at 11:58 am
If a member of law enforcement is alerted to an American flag flying upside down at a residence, I think it would be perfectly reasonable for them to pay a courtesy visit to see if the residents are truly in distress rather than violently barge in to someone’s private home and manhandle them into submission and captivity. That would be the American thing to do.
The arrogance of government and police power is staggering.
It saddens me to hear responses in these pages calling for greater uses of force and violence against peaceful protests, greater restrictions on the speech of authentic patriots, greater losses of individual liberties to the reach and powers of an authoritarian state, and a greater inversion of the sovereignty of the individual in favor of the brute force of government control.
Pinto Kroger wrote:
It is more likely that they are libertarians, like me, who would like to see Ron Paul in the White House, regardless of his party affiliation.
I agree with them that this country is in distress; severe distress. I don’t believe that the Kuhn’s method of communicating that fact is particularly effective, but this incident graphically demonstrates their point quite well.
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July 26th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
4 syntax says:
Figures that George Bush’s Grandfather, Prescott was involved with that, as all Germans learn in school he belonged to the group of American industrialists that bankrolled Hitler(Austrian btw). He had jewish slave labor hired through IG Farben (was the largest chemical manufacturing enterprise in the world) and ThyssenKrupp AG (German steel company giant). And Kerry’s family right in the midst of it too. (Of cause Bush and Kerry are cousins after all)
Anyone that studies history can easily see that the idea of “Political Parties” and “Government of the People” is a joke because in reality the same fascist families are running the world that have been in charge since the Habsburger (if you never studied that families influence in the world go do it).
When are “we the People” wake up and see the world for what it is …
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July 26th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
i second Tim Peck’s comments, and just want to add…
THAT’S TYRANNY FOR YA!
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July 26th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
The comments section at ACT is a very sad read and 350+ now.
What I don’t understand is why the Kuhn’s didn’t just show the officer I.D. and take the citation? They could have easily gotten the ACLU involved and fought the charge in court without anything resorting to violence. It seems everyone’s temper got the best of them and turned the situation even worse.
is anyone else having problems listening to the audio on the ACT site?
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July 26th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Then there’s 74-year-old Alan McConnell up here in Kensington, MD who has been arrested at a local farmers’ market for selling “IMPEACH HIM” buttons. Here’s a CBS report:
Not everyone who hates Bush or the war is trainied (or interested in getting trained) in how to be passive when the police are coming after you.
But this just made me laugh:
Now, don’t you know he’s going to “get in trouble” for the signs . . .
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July 26th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
This is completely off-topic, but don’t they block those streets over by Asheville Brewing Company this evening for Bel Chere?
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July 26th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Hmm… I don’t think they will until after they close. Last year I think they put the barricades up @ midnight.
I guess we’ll find out.
(I voted for Ron Paul once…)
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July 26th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
I was assaulted by a sheriff’s deputy in Atlanta. He was off-duty, in uniform and commanded me to get on the ground with his ASP raised. I refused. He put me in the hospital.
I sued him, the county and the city. I won in two settlements. The officer was fired.
I don’t care if you have a uniform, a badge and George Bush’s signature on your ass, you cannot break the law and assault an innocent citizen engaged in a peaceful protest!
In this case, the deputy sheriff broke the law. He was there on a personal mission. He was a thug with a badge. Buncombe County should be sued and the officer brought up on charges.
I plan to have the Kuhn’s on my television show on URTV and I will be pressing this point.
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July 26th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT is still alive and well in good ol’ WNC.
Look for this officer to be dismissed and the whole matter swept quietly under the rug.
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July 26th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
I uploaded the WLOS footage from this afternoon to Youtube.
LINK
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July 27th, 2007 at 11:20 am
Check out the criminal records of Mrs. Kuhn. Convicted Drug Felon that has served time. They are public records. We have young soldiers dying for that flag and your right to even speak the way you do. The least you can do is give them the respect of THEIR FLAG since you obviously dont respect it enough yourself!!! GO LIVE SOMEWHERE ELSE if America and its Flag means that little to you!!!!
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July 27th, 2007 at 11:35 am
The Kuhn’s, in their peaceful protests, have a valid criticism and are defending not only the flag but what it supposedly stands for.
The thug that forcibly entered their home “under color of authority” and out of personal vendetta and anger is the criminal and deserves a criminal’s reward.
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July 27th, 2007 at 11:52 am
“trueamerican” @ 18:
Scrutiny Hooligans readers might be interested in the fact that this comment originated from an IP address belonging to the Army National Guard.
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July 27th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
I think the crux of this episode relies on whether or not the officer broke the window trying to get in, or if it was broken by the Kuhn’s ala slamming it on the officer’s hand as he has stated. If it was broken as the officer stated I believe that would qualify as assault and he would be within the law to enter the home to retrieve them. Their refusal to identify themselves when asked by the officer is a violation of the law, one that has been challenged and upheld by the Supreme Court.
the sensible course of action for the officer to have taken would have been to just let them be, as the same goes for the person who reported the “flag desecration”; for the Kuhn’s to have acted responsibly and with level heads when approached by the officer, instead of seeking to intensify the confrontation (which it seems to me they wanted…and received).
For me the problem of elevated this incident to the level that it seems to be going (on both sides) is that it is a pretty crummy issue to use to shed light on the real and serious erosion of civil liberties in this country, and gives the “main-stream†one more reason to marginalize the legitimate concerns that people in this country have (including me) on the overall direction we are headed. In short, this sort of confrontational politics serves only to reinforce people’s opinions, not challenge them.
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July 27th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
you people?
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July 27th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
I ran into Debbie Kuhn tonight over at Thai Express on Patton. She said she was going to be on Air America tonight. She also said, fist raised, without irony, “Power to the People!”
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July 28th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
1. Were you engaged in a lawful, peaceful protest on your own private property?
2. I know for a fact that a law enforcement officer will lie to their supervisors, their peers, the press, and a judge when they know they have broken the law by assaulting an innocent citizen under the color of authority.
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