A North Carolina woman, fiercely defending her right to fly the American flag, may be expelled from a mobile home park for refusing to comply with the park’s demand to remove it.
Teresa Greene, who resides in the Cato Mobile Home Community in Belmont and flies a large American flag outside her mobile home, received a letter from the park stating:
We are contacting all homeowners with a flag attached to their home. Due to our office being approached for authorization to erect or just erecting a flag that is offensive, could be offensive, or is derogatory for the community we are requesting that all existing flags be removed and refrain from erecting another flag on the home.
At this time, we are going to allow the small garden-styled flags to remain. However, if the same situation arises with those flags, we will have to reconsider.
Greene, who also flies a smaller American flag and a breast cancer victim support flag, was incensed, asserting, “I’m just going to leave it until she comes and takes it down,” in reference to a property management employee. She added, “It’s crazy that you can’t fly an American flag here in America. Last I figured, Belmont, North Carolina, was in America.” She contacted WBTV to assert she would not leave the park.
When contacted by WBTV, an employee at the Cato Mobile Home Park offices said that the company instituted the no flag rule after residents wanted to fly other flags and also cited a case from the past in which a resident wanted to fly a flag showing the silhouette of a naked woman. The employee stated that the company would have preferred Greene contacting them directly instead of contacting the media first.
Greene told WBTV that she will appeal the eviction and possibly hire attorneys.