Vets' flags forced down from East TN highway

OFF THE WIRE

Written byAnthony Welsch

"We honor the flag.  We do it for the public to see how we appreciate it."

The Oliver Springs chapter of Disabled American Veterans has displayed American flags alongside the median of Highway 62 for about two decades.

"It's the most patriotic thing we can do," Commander Omer Cox said.

But come flag day next week and the 4th of July, the median will be bear.
 
"I was upset.  It was emotional for me," Cox said.

"I was home trying to do some weed eating and I got a call from our Commander, Omer Cox, and really, I didn't need a weed-whacker to beat the bushes down," Frank Phillips, another member of the D.A.V. said.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation got a call from someone who filed a complaint about the flags.

"It's just a safety aspect," TDOT Spokesman Mark Nagi said.

So the state told the veterans that their flags had to go.  While TDOT offered to retrieve them from the median and hold on to the flags until the D.A.V. could pick them up, the veterans wanted to do it themselves.

TDOT says they understand the patriotism and pride associated with the flag but in this case they couldn't allow the display to continue because they got that complaint and state law says the flags are not legal.

"If one of those flags was to come loose on a really windy day and it flew into the road hit a car windshield then you could really be in for some problems," Nagi said.

"I don't see how this is a traffic violation," Phillips said.

The veterans group says they will look for help to get the flags back on the median, hopefully yet this summer.  But for now, they're walking Highway 62, picking up the red, white, and blue they fought for the right to display.

"I don't know, maybe it's just somebody who has bad feelings for flags.  If they have, they need to leave," Phillips said.