I'm glad the feds dismissed the citations against this war vet who's 1st Amendment rights were violated
http://www.sanfernandosun.com/sanfernsun/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4637&Itemid=2
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Written by Andres Chavez, Sun Staff Reporter
Wednesday, 16 December 200
Five citations against a 67-yearold Army veteran for displaying the American flag upside down on federal property have been dropped. Robert Rosebrock, as reported in a series of stories in the San Fernando Valley Sun\El Sol, has been protesting the planned conversion of Veterans Administration property in West Los Angeles to a public park. He received the dismissal order signed by a federal judge late in the afternoon of December 10.
"Obviously I was elated," Rosebrock said about receiving the dismissal order, "But I always felt I was innocent of all these charges and that it would have been dismissed somewhere down the line. But the big surprise was that it came early."
The charges were dismissed only days after theU.S.Attorney's Office learned that the ACLU of Southern California was representing Rosebrock in defense of his free speech rights.
Rosebrock has been protesting the planned transfer of VA land for use as a public park, "The land grab" as Rosebrock describes it, since March 2008.
He and a small and rotating group of veterans, some from the Valley and a few from the City of San Fernando, have become regular Sunday fixtures outside the Veteran Administration West L.A. campus at the corner of Wilshire and San Vicente.
Rosebrock maintains that the VA's land is legally and morally bound to be used for the care and housing of veterans, particularly homeless veterans. They hung a flag to draw attention to their protests.
For more than a year, Rosebrock and his supporters hung the flag right side up, but in June of this year they began hanging the flag upside down to show that the property was in distress and that its trans fer would endanger veterans.
Rosebrock said this was in keep with the U.S. flag code. He received the first of five citations a few weeks later from federal law enforcement officers.
Subsequently, Rosebrock got an e-mail from Lynn Carrier, associate director of the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration office, that said he "may not attach the American flag, upside down, on VA property" because "this is considered a desecration of the flag and is not allowed on VAproperty."
It was at this point that theACLU jumped on.
"The government has no business telling Mr. Rosebrock that it is OK to hang the flag one way because it is fine with the message expressed, but that he cannot hang the flag another way because it expresses a different message that the government does not approve of," said Peter Eliasberg, Manheim Family Attorney for First Amendment Rights and managing attorney for theACLU/SC.
The dropping of the charges shows that someone on the other side agreed with theACLU.
But as far as Rosebrock is concerned, the dropping of the charges was just a step.
"I consider (this) a battle victory but we still have the war to fight," he said. The war being to stop the VAfrom using VAland for non veteran use or selling the land.
Rosebrock and his supporters were out in front of the VA last Sunday and the VApolice accosted them again. This time they accused Rosebrock and the other vets of loitering and trespassing and ordered them to take down the flag again.
They complied but Rosebrock feels more strongly that he's right. "No other time inmodern day history has there ever been the right opportunity to hang the flag in distress because the very men and women who have defended the flag are having their own land stolen away from them. The right to hang the flag upside down in distress is probably the most appropriate thing that we've done," he said.
The veterans will be out in front of the VA on Sunday, for the 91st Sunday in a row.
http://www.sanfernandosun.com/sanfernsun/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4637&Itemid=2
http://www.sanfernandosun.com/sanfernsun/images/stories/0951/vets protest 2_450.jpg
Written by Andres Chavez, Sun Staff Reporter
Wednesday, 16 December 200
Five citations against a 67-yearold Army veteran for displaying the American flag upside down on federal property have been dropped. Robert Rosebrock, as reported in a series of stories in the San Fernando Valley Sun\El Sol, has been protesting the planned conversion of Veterans Administration property in West Los Angeles to a public park. He received the dismissal order signed by a federal judge late in the afternoon of December 10.
"Obviously I was elated," Rosebrock said about receiving the dismissal order, "But I always felt I was innocent of all these charges and that it would have been dismissed somewhere down the line. But the big surprise was that it came early."
The charges were dismissed only days after theU.S.Attorney's Office learned that the ACLU of Southern California was representing Rosebrock in defense of his free speech rights.
Rosebrock has been protesting the planned transfer of VA land for use as a public park, "The land grab" as Rosebrock describes it, since March 2008.
He and a small and rotating group of veterans, some from the Valley and a few from the City of San Fernando, have become regular Sunday fixtures outside the Veteran Administration West L.A. campus at the corner of Wilshire and San Vicente.
Rosebrock maintains that the VA's land is legally and morally bound to be used for the care and housing of veterans, particularly homeless veterans. They hung a flag to draw attention to their protests.
For more than a year, Rosebrock and his supporters hung the flag right side up, but in June of this year they began hanging the flag upside down to show that the property was in distress and that its trans fer would endanger veterans.
Rosebrock said this was in keep with the U.S. flag code. He received the first of five citations a few weeks later from federal law enforcement officers.
Subsequently, Rosebrock got an e-mail from Lynn Carrier, associate director of the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration office, that said he "may not attach the American flag, upside down, on VA property" because "this is considered a desecration of the flag and is not allowed on VAproperty."
It was at this point that theACLU jumped on.
"The government has no business telling Mr. Rosebrock that it is OK to hang the flag one way because it is fine with the message expressed, but that he cannot hang the flag another way because it expresses a different message that the government does not approve of," said Peter Eliasberg, Manheim Family Attorney for First Amendment Rights and managing attorney for theACLU/SC.
The dropping of the charges shows that someone on the other side agreed with theACLU.
But as far as Rosebrock is concerned, the dropping of the charges was just a step.
"I consider (this) a battle victory but we still have the war to fight," he said. The war being to stop the VAfrom using VAland for non veteran use or selling the land.
Rosebrock and his supporters were out in front of the VA last Sunday and the VApolice accosted them again. This time they accused Rosebrock and the other vets of loitering and trespassing and ordered them to take down the flag again.
They complied but Rosebrock feels more strongly that he's right. "No other time inmodern day history has there ever been the right opportunity to hang the flag in distress because the very men and women who have defended the flag are having their own land stolen away from them. The right to hang the flag upside down in distress is probably the most appropriate thing that we've done," he said.
The veterans will be out in front of the VA on Sunday, for the 91st Sunday in a row.
