A fireman has been threatened with legal action for flying a Jolly Roger outside his home for his daughter’s pirate-themed birthday party.
David Waterman, 41, was ordered to take down the flag from his home in Ashtead, Surrey, by Mole Valley council because it breached regulations controlling advertising. The council acted after a complaint by a neighbour.
A letter dated April 21 said he had seven days to remove the 5ft by 3ft banner after which it would be “very likely to attract removal and or prosecution”.
Even though his daughter Madeleine’s eighth birthday has passed, Waterman said he was determined to keep the flag up as a matter of principle.
He paid £95 to apply for advertising consent for the £5 flag, although a letter told him it was “most unlikely that a favourable recommendation would be forthcoming”.
Waterman, who works at Battersea fire station in south London, said he was now in a position where he “couldn’t possibly take down the flag”.
“It’s a £5 flag, not hurting anyone, and they’re probably spending hundreds of pounds of our cash getting me to take it down,” the father-of-four told the Evening Standard. “That could be spent on improving the local area - it’s disgraceful.”
Another neighbour erected a Jolly Roger in support but took it down after receiving the same warning letter from the council.
A spokeswoman for Mole Valley district council said they visited both properties flying the flags and wrote to the owners informing them of the regulations.
The letters stated that although any resident was entitled to fly national flags outside their properties, the Jolly Roger was not allowed under the Outdoor Advertisements & Signs Regulations.
Waterman, a former trooper with the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, blamed the complaint by his neighbour on a dispute about his children playing outside.
I’m wondering how quickly the complaint was filed. After all, why didn’t he just take it down after the party? Then I’m sure he wouldn’t even have this issue.
Well, yes, but how long did it take to get a letter from the council? I guess I was wanting to know why he didn’t take it down the same day, right after the party.
Perhaps for the same reason my council can’t come round the same day and pick up the litter their dustcart has trailed down the street, or come back the same day when the recycling collection misses my road out completely, “We’re a bit busy at the moment, we’ll get right on it when the resources become available. KTHNXBYE!”
There was a guy in Michigan that did something similar, but for political reasons, rather than to make a buck. If you want freedom, then that means the freedom to express even unpopular ideas.
MODERATOR NOTE: Rascist imagery removed. I’d repeat what’s already been said to you, but quite frankly, I’m tired of parroting myself.
There was a guy in Michigan that did something similar, but for political reasons, rather than to make a buck. If you want freedom, then that means the freedom to express even unpopular ideas.
MODERATOR NOTE: Rascist imagery removed. I’d repeat what’s already been said to you, but quite frankly, I’m tired of parroting myself.
It was a news story, and that was a leftist website. What’s the problem?
I’m starting a thread in the lounge, so there aren’t any problems with “staying on topic” or anything. Seriously, that was a national newsstory late last year, and Debbie Schlussel is Politically Correct.
The Jolly Roger wasn’t put up to ‘make a buck’ but to protest at being ordered to remove it. In NO way is this related to a Nazi piece of filth.
That’s wasn’t a Nazi message!
He was saying in effect: Israeli Zionism perpetrated against the Palestinians is as evil as Nazis.
He was equating Nazis (almost universally believed to be evil) with Israel.
Thus, he is anti-Nazi, rather than pro-Nazi. He adheres to Politically Correctness in that aspect of his message. But he was also pro-Palestinian, which may or may not be Politically Correct.
I’m starting a thread in the lounge, so there aren’t any problems with “staying on topic” or anything. Seriously, that was a national newsstory late last year, and Debbie Schlussel is Politically Correct.
1) Where’s the lounge?
2) How, do tell, is this Schussel woman ‘leftist’ or ‘politically correct’? Examples:
Your Day in Illegal Alien Rape of Minors News
I guess those phony workplace arrests of illegal aliens aren’t really working, are they? Well, they are working in the sense that somebody gets to go on TV and pretend she’s doing her job, then gets a tax-funded vacay to Argentina:
What Do The Gitmo Truthers Say About Abdallah Al-Ajmi?
I actually don’t need to ask what all the Gitmo Truthers--the liberals who say we should shut down Guantanamo Bay and that the men there are just innocent people, not terrorists--will say about Abdallah Salih Al-Ajmi.
Great Minds . . . AND Dysfunctional Western Democracies Think Alike
Yes, our illegal alien problem--with 20 milion of them roaming the Great American Abyss--is huge. But, to make it even bigger, the immigration policies of our neighbors to the north in Canuckistan, are just as bad and actually worse.
The woman’s to the political right of the Khmer Rouge.
You have a history of posting things with a rascist, homophobic slant on these forums. You are an active member of Stormfront, if not card-carrying, at least on their forums. You have been smart enough to stay in the fuzzy grey area in regards to how you post, which is why you have remained unbanned, but it’s clear what your agenda here is.
I, for one, am tired of your using this forum as a pulpit for your filth.
Wait...he equates with her because she’s Jewish...and is a member of Stormfront? A white supremacist who doesn’t think Jews are scum? What the hell kind of Nazis like Jews?
Boy have things changed from the good old days when we taught Hitler who was boss. Back then Nazis were Nazis. Black and white it all was. Ah, I can’t handle the grey areas.
