Want to relate an incident that happened to us recently. It was unexpected and I still have a hard time believing it happened. I don't want to create a political debate by sharing this experience.
We are in a SW Florida RV resort and have been since the first of December. We are booked until April 1st. Since our arrival I have had my Uncommon-USA flag pole up with an American Blue Line flag on top and a second flag on the bottom. The second flag is a "make America great" President Trump flag (red, white, blue).
Last week the owner of the park, and her assistant, came to my door and told me I had to take my second flag down. When I asked why she said someone had "complained" and she did not want to start having problems so it was just easier to have everyone take their secondary flags down. At the time there were probably 6 or 7 sites out of 300+ that were flying such secondary flags. I told her this did not make sense because I had been displaying these flags for about 45 days with no problems. She insisted the secondary flag had to come down.
I told her I would not remove the flag just because someone complained. She became upset and informed me that either I take the flag down or she would evict me from the park. I again told her I would not take the flag down. Then I asked both of them if they knew what the blue line American flag stood for that I was displaying over the President Trump flag. Neither one of them had a clue what the blue line flag represented. I told them it was to honor Police Officers. I further told them that I served my country in Viet Nam then returned home to start a 34 year career as a police officer. I told them that my service, and my blue line flag gave me the right to fly the second flag under the first and no one was going to make me take it down. I asked her if she planned on providing me a refund on my deposit and she said she would. My neighbor (and buddy) who had the same flag displayed had walked over and he also said he would not take his flag down.
The resort owner told us she was a Trump supporter but was only trying to "keep the peace". There was additional conversation about someone complaining that I won't get into here. She finally admitted that she had just walked into the office and her manager had informed her of the complaint and situation with the flags. She said they could stay up for now and she would go back and talk to "some people" and give us a final decision soon.
About 30 minutes later she returned to my site and said the flags could remain. Since this incident last week between 6 and 8 additional sites are now displaying similar secondary flags.
There are a couple Florida statutes that could come into play if this would have played out. I understand that private campgrounds have the right to establish rules, however I felt this was overstepping. I guess it just makes me wonder what could be next from a campground, rules forbidding firearm possession? I am relieved that this campground owner took a minute and made the correct decision.
...At least not in plain sight!
