Florida Democratic Club Flying Obama American Flag Receives Death Threats

Obama Flag Picture

Flag depicting President Barack Obama above Lake County Democratic Party headquarters in Tavares, FL. (Courtesy Donald L. Van Beck)


March 16, 2012


It's been a difficult week for members of the Lake County Democratic
Club in Florida after they received thousands of angry emails, phone
calls, and even death threats for displaying an American Flag with
President Obama's face on it.

The image of the president takes the place of the 50 stars on the flag
and had been flying at the headquarters for the past two months. But,
that all changed on Tuesday when a group of about 20 veterans gathered
outside the headquarters and demanded the flag be taken down.

"It was extremely disturbing," says Korean War Veteran Don Van Beck.
"You have to be a veteran to understand how we feel about the flag. You
go to war defending that flag and now they're defacing it."

The veterans say that altering the flag is in violation of the Federal
Flag Code, which states "The flag should never have placed upon it, nor
on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word,
figure design, picture, or drawing of any nature."

Democratic Club Chair Nancy Hurlbert answered the door at Democratic
Headquarters and told the veterans they could not take the flag down
because this was private property. After a heated discussion, Hurlbert
agreed to research the flag code, insisting the club had no intention of
offending anyone and that the flag was a gift from one of its members.
Hurlbert came back outside 10 minutes later and removed the flag from
the pole, leaving an American Flag with the 50 stars which had already
been on the pole. Club Secretary Janet Manchon says the anger didn't end
there.












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"It was just vitriol. I've been called every name in the book," says
Manchon. "The flag means a lot to us. My father was a veteran. My
husband's a veteran. We feel badly because we support our veterans."

Manchon says her phone's been ringing off the hook and her e-mail inbox
has been full since Tuesday. But, that's nothing compared to what
Hurlbert has endured, instructed not to speak about the incident by the
Florida Democratic Party. Manchon says that Hurlbert has received two
death threats.

"She's scared. She's had to turn her phone off," says Manchon. "I just
don't understand why the veterans couldn't have just called
headquarters. They bombarded our chairperson with cameras and local
press, catching her off guard."

Van Beck says he doesn't hold any animosity towards the Democratic Club
and is sorry that Hurlbert has received the death threats. But, he
insists they called headquarters multiple times on Monday and Tuesday.
Since nobody answered the phone, the veterans drove to Tavares, Fla.,
and Hurlbert answered the door. Democratic Club members like Janet
Manchon believe this incident isn't about the flag, but rather a way to
be critical of President Obama. Van Beck says that's just not true.

"I would have acted the same at another location," said the Veteran.
"This is not a political thing. This is about the flag. If we saw Mitt
Romney on a flag at the Republican Headquarters, we would have done the
same thing."

You can currently buy the flag online including EBay, where it sold for
$128.50 Thursday evening. The veterans say they're sending letters to
all the VFW Posts in the U.S., alerting them of the flag. Van Beck says
the flag is manufactured in China.

The Florida Democratic Party tells ABC News that they don't condone the
actions of the Lake County Club and are in agreement that they flag
should have been taken down. The state party did, however, send an
e-mail to Hurlbert, which she read at the club's meeting Wednesday
night.

The letter encouraged members to not let this incident "distract us from
our work." Manchon says they plan to do just that, adding the phone
calls and emails have slowed down as the tense week comes to an end.

"We want to try and put this whole thing aside so we can get on with
what do -- helping re-elect U.S. Senator Bill Nelson and President
Barack Obama."