War protester sets flag on fire

pe.com ^ | July 3, 2005 | SARAH BURGE

[B4Ranch]

War protester sets flag on fire MURRIETA: Lee Henry Vollick, 19, is attacked by concertgoers, then arrested, his mother says.

11:14 PM PDT on Sunday, July 3, 2005

By SARAH BURGE / The Press-Enterprise

MURRIETA - After a 19-year-old war protester set fire to an American flag at the Murrieta city birthday bash Saturday evening, angry bystanders attacked him before he could say a word, his mother said Sunday.

Police said Lee Henry Vollick, of Murrieta, set an American flag ablaze around 7:55 p.m. in the middle of a crowded concert at the California Oaks Sports Park.

The protester's mother, Barbara Vollick, said her son was trying to make a statement against the war in Iraq, not against the United States.

"He's just a college student being crazy," she said.

Murrieta police Sgt. Dennis Vrooman said, "He was basically a one-man demonstration."

He was trying to get others to join him, Vrooman said, "but he wasn't getting any cooperation."

Vollick said her son was upset about President Bush's speech on Iraq last week.

"He's very angry that our young men are dying," Vollick said.

"He didn't even get to say anything," she said, alleging that about a half-dozen people attacked him and pulled the flag away. One man punched him in the face, she said.

Vollick said Sunday her son wasn't in any condition to speak with the press.

"He's actually in a lot of pain right now." She said his face was cut, his neck and back were hurt, and he had welts on his wrists from handcuffs police placed on him when he was arrested.

Vollick was up all night in jail, she said, and he wasn't released until nearly 10 a.m. Sunday morning.

According to a police news release, a Murrieta police officer approached Vollick because the fire posed a hazard to the crowd. The fire burned out quickly, but the officer tried to grab Vollick anyway.

Vollick resisted and tried to break away from his grasp, the release said. With the help of several bystanders, including two off-duty Murrieta police officers, the officer brought Vollick to the ground.

Vollick was arrested on suspicion of resisting a police officer, disturbing a public assembly and inciting a riot. Vollick's mother said he was just trying to stand up, not fight the officers.

"He was yelling, 'You're hurting me,' " she said. "He has a bad back."

Vrooman said, "From my understanding, there were quite a few people in the crowd who were displeased at what he was doing." When the police took the teen him away, Vrooman said, "people applauded."

Vollick said her son was a student at Mt. San Jacinto College for a semester and a half, but had to take time off for health reasons.

She said he had planned to go back to school in August or join the Navy.

"He loves the military," Vollick said, adding that he was a Young Marine for two years when they lived in San Diego. "He wants to serve his country, but he doesn't want to kill people."

Reach Sarah Burge at (951) 368-9642 or sburge@pe.com

[rhombus]

Lee Henry Vollick, 19...
...he had planned to go back to school in August or join the Navy.
"He loves the military," Vollick said, adding that he was a Young Marine for two years when they lived in San Diego. "He wants to serve his country, but he doesn't want to kill people."

He doesn't want to kill people? He was a "Young Marine", he might join the Navy?... Sounds like he better do some serious thinking here (imagine that). Has he considered a career in the food service industry?... then he could "feed the world". Wouldn't that feel good? Some food service workers get to wear uniforms too!! Wouldn't that be just mega-cool!!

[R. Scott]

After a 19-year-old war protester set fire to an American flag at the Murrieta city birthday bash Saturday evening, angry bystanders attacked him before he could say a word, his mother said Sunday.

The kid incited a riot, the angry bystanders gave in to an irresistible impulse.

[Zacs Mom]

A protest raged on a courthouse lawn,
round a makeshift stage they charged on.
 

Fifteen hundred or more they say,
had come to burn the Flag that day.
 

A boy held up the folded Flag,
cursed it and called it a dirty rag.
 

An OLD MAN pushed through the angry crowd,
With a rusty shotgun shouldered proud.
 

His uniform jacket was old and tight,
he had polished each button, shiny and bright.
 

He crossed the stage with military grace,
until he and the boy stood face to face.
 
 

"FREEDOM OF SPEECH", the OLD MAN said,
"Is worth dying for, good men are dead,
 

So you can stand on this courthouse lawn,
  And talk us down from dusk to dawn,
 

 But before any Flag gets burned today,
 This OLD MAN IS GOING TO HAVE HIS SAY!!
 
 

My father died on a foreign shore,
In a war they said would end all war.
 

But Tommy and I wasn't even full grown,
Before we fought in a war of our own.
 

And Tommy died on Iwo Jima's beach,
In the shadow of a hill he couldn't quite reach
 

Where six good men raised this Flag so high,
That the WHOLE DAMN WORLD COULD SEE IT FLY.
 
 

 
 

I got this bum leg that I still drag,
Fighting for this same old Flag.
 

Now there's but one shot in this old gun,
So now it's time to decide which one,
 

Which one of you will follow our lead,
To STAND AND DIE FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE?
 

For as sure as there is a rising sun,
You'll burn in Hell 'fore this Flag burns, son
 
 

Now this riot never came to pass
The crowd got quiet and that can of gas,
 

Got set aside as they walked away
To talk about what they had heard this day.
 

And the boy who had called it a "dirty rag",
Handed the OLD SOLDIER the folded Flag.
 
 

 
 

 So the battle of the Flag this day was won
By a tired OLD SOLDIER with a rusty gun,
 

Who for one last time, had to show to some,
 

 

[wideawake]

"He's actually in a lot of pain right now."

Good.

[Tempestuous]

"He wants to serve his country, but he doesn't want to kill people."

- Hey dumbass. That’s the job of our military, to kill people. That’s what soldiers do. They kill other people so those other people don't kill you. If you didn't have your head so far up your ass and snorted your brains through your esophagus, you'd be waving that flag instead of burning it.

- I have no pity for this kid or anyone else who gets beat up for being stupid.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

Thanks for posting that patriotic saga.


(eyes moist)

[Allegra]

I wonder if he's learned anything about consequences for actions now?

He should learned that at an earlier age, but it sounds like he was mollycoddled.

Setting an American flag on fire in a public place just may earn you a good butt-kicking.

[Coop]

Excellent poem! Do you know who the author is?

[Gondring]

The Supreme Court won't ban flag burning but it's great to see the public take the matter into their own hands.

I disagree wholeheartedly. It's not a good thing to see vigilanteism.

The flag is not a symbol of George Bush's policies; it's a symbol of our nation. When a person burns a flag, it clearly declares his renunciation of citizenship. This young man should be escorted to the nearest border and allowed to find a new home.

[nuke rocketeer]

Got what he deserved!

[Gondring]

Probably why he loves the Young Marines so much...

[syriacus]

From the article: Vollick set an American flag ablaze around 7:55 p.m. in the middle of a crowded concert
Vollick's mother said "He's very angry that our young men are dying"

Vollick was willing to put dozens of people's lives at risk. It's obvious that he doesn't really care about saving lives.

From the article: The fire burned out quickly, but the officer tried to grab Vollick anyway

Good idea. Even if the kid had been burning an old rag, he should have been grabbed.

[Coop]

Setting an American flag on fire in a public place just may earn you a good butt-kicking.

Again, please, I must urge all my fellow Americans to allow freedom of speech in all its forms. Resist violence.

[LIConFem]

A liberal friend of mine has a good take on the whole flag burning issue. He essentially thinks (as I do) that flag burning is -- and should be -- protected as political speech/expression. He also thinks that if you're dumb enough to do it in a public place and get your tush stomped as a result, you pretty much deserve what you get.

I hope this "crazy college kid" has learned something from the experience.

[Coop]

I personally think if someone chooses to burn an American flag in my presence, I should get to choose the flag's location - which will be wrapped firmly around their head and shoulders just prior to ignition. :-)

[Recon Dad]

We won't escort illegals to the border! The best case serario in these flag burning incidents is for the idiot to splash himself with the combustable and get lit up with the flag.
This guy could have burned the flag in his backyard but instead he wanted to illicit a reaction.

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction"

[Captain Rhino]

Young Marine = Junior ROTC (High School)

FWIW, during the Vietnam War, the Marines did offer 2 year enlistments (for the combat arms only).

[skimbell]

"He didn't even get to say anything," she said, alleging that about a half-dozen people attacked him and pulled the flag away. One man punched him in the face, she said.

Sure he got to say what was on his mind. The SCOTUS says that burning the U.S. flag is "symbolic" speech. The guy that punched him in the face was similarly saying something that he wanted to say.

Isn't freedom of speech wondeful?

[sure_fine]

sounds like an occasion of two ideas enjoying freedom of speech

[thegreatbeast]

"He's just a college student being crazy," she said.

He's just an a**hole being an arse.