A homeowner in Seagrove Beach, Florida, is in the middle of a controversy with Walton County Code Enforcement officials, WMBB reported Monday.
Marvin Peavy unfurled two nearly three-story-tall Trump banners on his home, reading “Trump Won” and “Let’s Go Brandon.”
However, code enforcement is fining him for every day he keeps the banners up, which he claims violates his right to free speech.
“I’m here on the beach, and I got a lot of traffic, and people needed to see what I believe in,” Peavy explained. “That’s free speech, and I wanted everyone to know that I’m a republican and I’m supporting Donald Trump.”
He resides on exclusive 30A located in the South Walton community, according to the report.
At a code enforcement hearing in October, a compliance magistrate noted the “Trump Won” banner violated the county’s land development code on 30A.
Now, Peavy is being fined $50 for each day the banner remains hanging on the building.
In a Facebook post on October 24, a woman named Paige Whiddon Peavy, who said she owns the home with Marvin, shared photos of what appears to be the red “Trump Won” sign.
“Many protested for us in front of our home today! The support is overwhelming!!” she wrote:
People also gathered outside Peavy’s home on Sunday to show their support.
“I had attended the code enforcement meeting when this was brought up, and I was quite shocked when they said they were going to find him $50 a day for a banner that’s on his private property,” Tabitha Howard told WMBB.
Peavy reportedly flew a large Trump 2020 banner outside his house last year but removed it after President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
County officials did not take action against him for that banner because it flew during an active election cycle, which is allowed under the local code.
His “Trump Won” banner was hung in May, and Peavy added the “Let’s Go Brandon” banner on Saturday.
“People admire people that stand up, and we have got to start standing up,” Bill Fletcher, who is chairman of the Walton County Republican Executive Committee, commented. “He is the epitome of somebody who will stand up for his First Amendment right.”
However, code compliance official Michael Lynch explained the land-use code preserves the visual structure of the vacation community, and the red banner’s content was “irrelevant,” according to the WMBB article.
But Peavy said he did not plan on taking the banners down and claimed citizens from all over the country have offered to pay his fines.
“If the code compliance magistrate finds Peavy in violation again at the hearing on November 17, his fines will be due and will continue to accrue each day the banners remain,” the WMBB report continued.
Meanwhile, a majority of likely voters familiar with the popular chants of “Fuck Joe Biden” and “Let’s Go, Brandon” said they are “appropriate” ways to protest the Biden administration, a Convention of States Action/Trafalgar Group survey found.
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