Veterans push flag protection

War veterans pushing for a constitutional amendment to protect the U.S. flag came together Monday at the state Capitol to urge support for congressional action on the proposal.

Poll results demonstrating overwhelming support among Utahns for the amendment were also released, as well as numbers showing that they want full protection for the flag that a constitutional amendment could provide. The poll was conducted by Opinion Research Corp. for the organizers of the rally, the Citizens Flag Alliance, which includes a large number of civic, fraternal and veteran groups.

The numbers also showed that the majority of Utahns do not believe that burning a flag is an appropriate expression of freedom of speech and that they would not vote for someone who did not support protecting the flag. They also believed that the general population should be allowed to decide the issue, not Congress or the Supreme Court.

"The vast majority of Utahns, like the vast majority of Americans, want their flag protected," Citizens Flag Alliance president Daniel Wheeler said to the crowd of about 25 people, primarily war veterans.

The proposed amendment passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in May but still faces an uphill battle to pass by the required two-thirds of the full Senate. If it did pass, it would also require three-fourths of the states to approve it.

Wheeler was critical of Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, who is opposed to the amendment. Instead, Bennett is sponsoring legislation that would impose criminal penalties to anyone who intentionally defaces or destroys the flag, a measure that Wheeler said lacks support and does not go far enough.

"If you're in favor of something that has no chance to pass and does not protect the flag, how can you say you are in favor of protecting the flag?" Wheeler said.

Bennett's spokeswoman Mary Jane Collipriest disputed that charge, saying that the senator "is a strong supporter of flag protection." He is not, however, in favor of changing the Constitution.

"Senator Bennett would prefer to approach this statutorily instead of amending the Constitution," Collipriest said. "He has been told by legal scholars at the Library of Congress that this will pass muster" by the judicial system and sufficiently protect the flag.

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