HOUSE OKs FLAG DESECRATION BAN

Vietnam veteran Jerry Stauber was ready to celebrate Flag Day a little early after the U.S. House voted Thursday for a proposed constitutional amendment against flag desecration.

Stauber is first vice commander of the American Legion post in Cape Girardeau. The American Legion, both locally and nationally, wants to ban flag burning and other acts against the U.S. flag.

The House approved the measure by a vote of 310 to 114. The proposed amendment wouldn't outlaw flag desecration but would allow Congress to legislate such a ban.

The vote came only two days before the nation celebrates Flag Day.

The vote marked Congress' third attempt to approve the amendment since the Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that burning the flag was a form of speech protected by the Constitution.

The measure faces an uncertain future in the Senate where it failed to win passage two years ago.

Constitutional amendments require approval by two-thirds of both the House and Senate and ratification by three-fourths of the states.

Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, voted for the proposed amendment. "Countless brave Americans have followed our flag into battle," said Emerson. "These men and women, our soldiers and veterans, stood in harm's way to defend the flag and the principles which it represents.

"Let's not diminish their sacrifices and their courage by looking the other way at the desecration of America's proudest symbol," she said during floor debate.

Rep. Glenn Poshard, D-Marion, Ill., voted against it. The veteran lawmaker has announced plans to run for governor in Illinois.

Poshard views the amendment as an infringement on free speech.

"Do we want to criminalize an act of free will when it comes to dissent against the government?" asked Poshard.

"Remember that the most precious right any American has is the right to speak out against the government when they feel in their hearts that government is no longer responsive to their needs," he said in remarks reported in the Congressional Record.

But veterans like Stauber disagree. "Burning the flag does not represent free speech," he said. "It is like cutting out a person's heart."

Stauber said he and other Americans who have spent time overseas have a better appreciation of the United States and its government.

Stauber views flag burning as an attack against patriotism.

But another local veteran, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the nation doesn't need a constitutional amendment.

"I don't think there is a real problem," the man said. Few Americans desecrate the flag. "It is such a minority that it couldn't be one out of a million. It just makes the news like an airplane crash," he said.

The veteran, whose military career spanned three wars, said he doubted the Senate or the majority of states would pass the constitutional amendment.