Iraq vet refuses request to remove American flag

A veteran of the war in Iraq has refused to remove the flag he has flying from his North Suffolk front porch, despite the demands of the homeowners association that sets rules in his Belmont Park neighborhood.

Daniel Toner’s mother, from whom he rents the condo, had received written permission from the Belmont Park Homeowner’s Association’s property management company to fly the flag.

Toner installed a small holder on a porch post and an American flag within guidelines specified in the letter.

Soon, though, the property management company reversed its position. Toner was told to remove the flag, at least until a flag policy was adopted. That’s expected to happen at the HOA board’s July meeting.

“They consider any extra modification something you would have to get approval from the Architectural Review Board for,” Toner said.

“My position is, if you are restricting a flag holder, you are restricting the American flag by association. It’s an American flag; you should never have to take down one if it’s reasonably displayed.”

The property management company, Chesapeake Bay Management, referred questions to Jeanne Lauer, counsel for the HOA. Lauer cited a provision in the Code of Virginia dealing with HOAs and flags.

It states that no association can prohibit a property owner or – like Toner – anyone with an exclusive right of possession to a property, from flying the American flag in accordance with federal law. That’s in accordance with the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, the provision states.

But the provision also allows associations to “establish reasonable restrictions as to the size, place, duration, and manner of placement or display of the flag … provided such restrictions are necessary to protect a substantial interest of the association.”

Toner says he hasn’t been able to find anything regarding flags in the HOA’s written rules and regulations, but external alterations to homes in Belmont Park do require approval.

Lauer said the HOA’s draft regulations concerning flags predate Toner’s move to fly the flag. “Those rules have been in draft form and revised over a period of months,” she said.

“I think all homeowners are charged with the same obligation: If you live in a community with restrictions, you have to read them,” Lauer added.

Toner readily admits he and the HOA president have had few verbal altercations, and he said he received a violation notice in April for “throwing my dog’s crap over the fence.”

“Each time I have had a run-in the president of the board, it hasn’t been smooth sailing,” he said.

He has no way of telling who wrote it, but after Toner submitted a review on the HOA’s Facebook page, a commenter under the handle “Belmont Park of Suffolk, Virginia,” pointed out to him that the request to remove the flag “has NOT one iota to do with the flag.”

The post ends: “How would you like it if your next door neighbor or anyone else in the neighborhood decided to fly an ‘ISIS’ flag or a ‘swastika’ flag. I don’t think anyone in the neighborhood would feel very good about that and therefore is the reason why a flag resolution is needed.”

Toner posted in reply: “If any of my neighbors want to fly the Back Standard of ISIS complete with the Shahada or the swastika of the Nazis, that is their right under the First Amendment of the constitution, and I am proud to defend their rights, despite my contempt for their beliefs.”