More U.S. flags flew over Denton on Friday as some people showed solidarity with Andre “Frenchy” Rheault, who got a ticket from the city for flying too many flags at his storage yard.
Fellow Vietnam veterans came to Denton on Friday to hold flags outside the Frenchy’s Lawn and Tree Service storage yard in the 1000 block of Dallas Drive. Tim Lee, who lost both legs in the war, drove from Rowlett and sat out front holding a flag for several hours during the middle of the day Friday.
Glen Carlton, executive director of the North Texas State Fair Association, stopped by Friday morning to let Rheault know that 30 flags were flying along the fence at the North Texas Fairgrounds on Carroll Boulevard.
Rheault put out more flags, too, but some of his flags were flying in Double Oak on Friday afternoon to greet Anita Nelson’s son, who came home after 12 years stationed abroad. She’d heard Rheault might be able to help with a display.
“I didn’t even know this man,” Nelson said, but after her call earlier this week, he lined her circular drive with 30 flags. “I opened up the blinds yesterday morning and there they were.”
Rheault received a citation Thursday from Denton’s Community Improvement Services Division. Rheault parks his service vans in the yard, many of them bedecked with flags, next to On the Cuff Embroidery.
He has a dozen poles with U.S. flags mounted to the security fence at the front of the yard. Old Glory also flies on a pole high above the embroidery shop, its roof painted with the Stars and Stripes, too.
The ticket cites the part of the city’s property maintenance code that allows a property owner to display up to three flags without a permit, including the U.S. and Texas flags and another flag of the property owner’s choice.
To fly more flags, or other “wind devices,” Rheault must apply for a permit. Businesses are allowed up to three permits of 30 days each every year to fly banners, sky tubes, flags and similar outdoor promotional items.
More than 4,300 people signed a Change.org petition to allow Rheault to continue to fly his flags.
Resident Scott Campbell, who blogged about the dispute, headed over to Trophy House to get T-shirts to spread the word. He is selling shirts with an image of the U.S. flag and the words “My flag is not a wind device” printed on them, for cost. (For information, email Campbell at dentoning@gmail.com.)
Should Rheault decide to fight the ticket, whether he or the city prevails remains to be seen.
Chad Ruback, a Dallas-based appellate lawyer, said Rheault’s next step is municipal court, which doesn’t commonly hear novel arguments about the First Amendment. Many legal battles have been fought over the individual freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and where those individual freedoms stop, Ruback said.
An individual’s right to free speech, which includes flying a flag, can find its limit when a neighbor can claim a nuisance or loss of property value. It might be hard to argue that the U.S. flag is a nuisance, Ruback said, but if a property owner wanted to fly many flags representing something more controversial, then the city might have a harder time regulating a flag display.
“They can’t regulate content,” Ruback said.
Moreover, most people aren’t in the position to hire a constitutional scholar to defend their case, although there are some nonprofit groups that might take the case without charge, he said.
The fact that Rheault has been flying the flags for many years before the city cited him could prove problematic, Ruback said.
“Those flags have flown for many years without complaints,” Ruback said. “A city can waive its rights to enforce an ordinance by not doing so over an extended period of time.”
PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881 and via Twitter at @phwolfeDRC.
