Flag Burning ~ And It Was Our Flag and Others

My husband and I live in a quiet neighborhood. You might even say it is like a Norman Rockwell picture, with children on bikes and people walking their dogs in a peaceful place. Older families and young famlies starting out, each wanting a place that has not only the look but the feeling of security and safety. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, (6/26/05) the sun was shining and the birds were singing. You go outside to grab the newspaper and find…

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YOUR AMERICAN FLAG, BURNT AND LYING ON THE GROUND. The cord to raise the Flag on the pole is also burned and singed. Several other homes had Flags burned as well, and many were attached to their homes (ours is on a pole in the front yard), also the Flag at the Country Club in our Association of home owners was burned.
I just froze, standing there with chills running up and down my spine. It felt like someone had stabbed not only me right in the heart but every man in my family that has served our country, and every Veteran. That was all I could think of, that someone had driven a knife right in all my Vets hearts and souls. My next thought was how do I tell my husband. He is a Vet and I hated that he was going to see this. But I had to tell him and when I told him I sobbed and we just held each other for a few minutes outside as we looked at what had happened. And the anger we had, well we were shaking we were so mad.
Why burn flags and set firebombs? Well, they told deputies they burned the flags because they are anarchists and don’t agree with several U.S. government policies, including the war in Iraq.
Some of the flags were attached to houses, that means they endangered lives to express their hatred of this Country.
And… they were even dumb enough to brag to the arresting officers about what they did.

Sheriff’s report statement: Baber and Richard were driving around the neighborhood in the early hours and stopped at several houses, dousing flags in kerosene and raising them up flag poles. At least one house was damaged.
Richard told deputies he also tried to set a car on fire by soaking a tennis ball in gasoline and shoving it in the gas tank. The ball wouldn’t fit, he told deputies, so he doused the car’s exterior with gasoline and tried to ignite it, but that didn’t work either, according to sheriff’s reports.
Why burn flags and set firebombs? Well, they told deputies they burned the flags because they are anarchists and don’t agree with several U.S. government policies, including the war in Iraq.
“I hate Americans,” one of them told a deputy, according to reports.

Baber and Richard burned the flags at homes in the **** **** subdivision, where they live with Baber’s parents, then set fire to a flag at its clubhouse, said Lt. Chuck Lesaltato, a spokesman for the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office.
“Our deputies came up on them as they were returning to their car,” he said.
The stupid moonbats were charged with several counts of arson, criminal mischief and possession and manufacture of a fire bomb.
A judge set bail at $101,120 for Baber, who was described in reports as a lookout, and $402,120 for Richard. Baber posted bail Monday night, but Richard remained in jail.
Richard was carrying a red gas container, the sheriff’s reports said. Deputies also found several beer bottles filled with kerosene, stuffed with rags, in a car parked nearby.

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The parents of Scott Baber came to our home on Sunday July 31, 2005. It is interesting to my husband and myself, because on Friday July 29, 2005 I received a letter in the mail from the State Attorney’s office about Scott’s arraignment coming up. They said they wanted to apologize for what their son did. But they proceeded to make excuses for him as well as for Brian Richard. They told us their son never would have done what he did if he had not been drunk. They denied that Scott said he was the one that did that. There they stood lying to us about what his son had done, and then wanting us to understand his drunkenness was what caused him to burn our Flag. As we stood there and they did most of the talking, I thought my husband was going to punch the husband out a couple of time. They were arrogant and total liberals. They were not humble with their apology at all. More like trying to feel us out on our feelings to know how I might be writing my statement to the court.
I asked the parents if Scott was in jail and they said no he was at home. I told them they should use that opportunity to tell Scott what the Flag stands for, the lives that were lost in the wars, men giving their all so that he could live in the freedom that we people in this country enjoy. How the Flag is carried into battle, tell him of the raising of the Flag at Iwo Jima and other battles, and wars where the Flag may have been tattered and torn as the soldier carried it and placed it in the ground, how it stands for so much that has no financial cost, but the sacrifices of those defending it for us. Then I was shocked again as I head the father of Scott Baber say that Scott knew about the Flag and that Scott was a patriot. A patriot of what? Of terrorisim ?
Before they finally left I looked them both in the eyes, hard and said……..”I want you both to know with every atom in your being that your son should be sent to Gitmo as far as I am concerned. He owes every Veteran an apology and you can tell him from us that he burned the Flag of a home of a Veteran and a family where every man has served in every branch of the Military and fought in every war from WW11 up to now. One of my Uncles lost a leg in the Battle of the Bulge, another served on the Chosin Reservoir, and cousins in Vietnam and the list is long but their blood was shed and that Flag represents every war they all fought in for YOU to be free and safe. ”
How do I feel about what has happened ? There is a different feeling when a person has had threats made to them, property damaged, someone coming on our property to do harm to our property. It is an insecure feeling, of will this happen again, will these two get angry enough again to do more damage and where will they draw the line as to how extensive their evil deeds will be the next time. It is one thing to disagree with a war our country is in, it is one thing to wish Bush was not President, but it is another to take the action that these two did. What they did was a violent act and yes one of terrorism. They did not burn their own flag in their own yard, NO, they chose to go around our neighborhood and burn others Flags.
Seems pretty cut and dried to me, these two hate Americans and tried to firebomb America. Simply put, they are domestic terrorists and should be treated as such.
Everyone got involved, the Sheriff, a wonderful Detective that had just come back from serving in Iraq, the Assistant State Attorney, the Attorney General and homeland security, also the FBI. It was amazing how everyone of those on this case helping us was a Veteran. Even the President of our Association is a Disabled Vietnam Vet.
The man we bought the Flag and pole from is a Vietnam Vet, a wonderful man. We called him the following Monday bright and early and told him what had happened. He said he had heard about it on the news but did not know we were one of the victims.
UPDATE:
I am telling about this now because I did not have a blog when this happened and I want to share the update of what has happened.
So far they have only dealt with Scott Barber. What happens to the other boy will be next in a few months I think. We keep getting updates in snail mail from the State Attorney’s office. We received the update letter today and the contents are below………
Scott Barber:
Charges: Principal to arson first degree ( occupied structure) – 3 Counts
Possession of fire boimb
Principal to criminal mischief ( $200 or less) – 4 counts
On 12-20-05, the defendent entered a plea and was sentenced on the charges of Count 1, 2, 3 – Principal to arson first degree
Count 4 – possession of fire bomb
Count 5, 6, 7, 8 – Principal to criminal mischief.
At that time the court entered the following sentence:
Sentenced as youthful offender- adjudicated guilty – CT 1,2,3 – 56 months residental program, 50 hours of public service work per year (5 hours per month) (25 hours at a Veterans Organization, continue counseling, letter of apology, restitution, DNA sample, court costs;
CT 4 – 6 months county jail, 4 1/2 years probation;
CT 5,6,7,8, – 60 days county jail.