Last week a drunk and unruly 21 yr old man was asked to leave the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Valley Falls, NY. Upset over his ejection, the 21 yr old proceeded to cut down the flag flying out in front of the VFW, and promptly burned it with his cigarette lighter. Unfortunately for the young man, it turned out that the flag had been a gift sent to this VFW post recently from local troops currently serving in Iraq.
The post commander, Vietnam Veteran Nick Normile, got several veterans together, and organized a hunt for the young man. Two days later, they finally caught up with him.
The 21 yr old then found himself taken prisoner by the veterans, who transported him back to the VFW post, and then duct taped him to the very flagpole that he had desecrated. They then hung a sign around his head, proclaiming the offense that the young man had committed.
For over six hours he remained taped to the flagpole, exposed out in the hot sunshine, as local citizens passing by heaped score and ridicule on him.
Afterward, Nick Normile was quoted as saying: "He'll never disrespect the flag again, I can tell you that."
So far, both New York State police and Rensselaer County sheriffs deputies have all said that they have no plans to file any charges over the incident.
Here is a link to a complete news story about the incident:
http://www.military.com/news/article/flag-burner-pilloried-by-veterans.html--
