LETTERS: SPEAK UP ABOUT OLD GLORY

To the editor:

Recently, a nationwide newsletter reported that last June 17-year-old Matthew C. Janssen of Appleton, Wis., decided to exercise his free-speech rights on a public golf course. Without saying a word, he lowered the U.S. flag from the pole, found a secluded place to drop his pants, then defecated on Old Glory. He placed the soiled flag on the steps of the clubhouse for others to clean up.

Here is what Janssen had to say after being charged: "I was expressing my views when I defecated on the flag. ... I laid it on the steps of the clubhouse so that it would be noticed. ... The U.S. flag does not hold any positive value to me. It is just another piece of cloth."

The public defender assigned to the case argued for dismissal because of the 1989 U.S. Supreme Court ruling which held that flag burning is protected under the constitutional right of free speech and that the state law is unconstitutional. A circuit judge agreed with Janssen's attorney.

Right in the middle of the argument on Capitol Hill that existing laws will protect our flag from desecration, along comes a 17-year-old to prove that none of the congressional speeches will hold water in our courtrooms. Young Janssen was able to mock the very symbol we hold dear because of the Supreme Court's 1989 decision. In other words, the Supreme Court's ruling has tied the hands of our judges. The laws we once depended on to protect Old Glory from desecration are no longer valid.

Public opinion polls still show that over 80 percent of American voters favor a constitutional amendment to protect Old Glory. June 14 is Flag Day. We need to deliver a personal message to every lawmaker in Washington. This may seem to be an extreme position on our part, but its the only way to counteract the extreme position of the Supreme Court.

I do not mince my words. The quicker the lawmakers know they are wrong, the quicker they will know to do right.

O.L. SHANNON

Jonesboro, Ill.