Fig & ice......
Posted on 08/02/2007 1:12:35 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
LAS VEGAS (AP) - An auto dealer vowed Thursday to fight a city order to take down the 109-foot pole from which he flies an American flag about the size of a competition volleyball court. The City Council voted Wednesday to order the Towbin Hummer dealership to take down the flag after officials said the pole was too high and neighbors complained the flag flapped too loudly.
"The American flag stays," dealership owner Dan Towbin declared. "I'm not convinced that people are complaining because of noise. This is about vindictiveness and power."
Towbin says the 30-foot-by-60-foot flag fits with his oversized dealership selling oversized cars, but rejects opponents' claims that it's an advertising tool.
"All I can tell you is we never sold a vehicle based on a flag," he said.
The council action followed a similar decision in May. Towbin sued the city, and a state judge last month sent the issue back to the council, ruling that he should have been allowed to have an attorney represent him before the body.
Towbin's lawyer, David Chesnoff, said Thursday that case remains pending.
"We're going to do whatever we can to keep the American flag flying," he said.
City regulations limit poles to 40 feet, but the council grants case- by-case exceptions.
Towbin got permission for a 100-foot pole in 2006, and the city has approved eight other flagpoles of that height or higher. Assistant City Attorney Bill Henry, however, said Towbin acknowledged last year that the council could revisit the decision if it bothered neighbors.
"We think it's arbitrary that they decide who gets it and who doesn't," Towbin said Thursday, adding that noise meters he put at a neighboring house didn't support complaints about loud flapping.
"If I was convinced I was truly disturbing people, I would have taken it down a long time ago," he said.
Whoever heard of such a thing.
Seriesly though; Is this an advertising gimmick or is Towbin all that patriotic?
figantice???
I bet you know I meant gigantic.
figantice?........
“Seriesly though; Is this an advertising gimmick or is Towbin all that patriotic?”
hard to imagine a car salesman doesn’t consider the impact on sales of a particular gesture or 30x60 flag.
190 foot pole? volleyball court sized flag? that seems a bit excessive. even for a hummer dealership.
If he's got another one like it at his residence, he's patriotic.
If not, it's an advertising gimmick.
I think it's fine, in a commercial zone. if it meets the local requirements for height and noise. I love to see big Old Glories flying.
How did this story get out of Vegas?
Fig & ice......
Figantice. As this thrad is so figantice.
Look. It even is a keyword!
lololol
Really does not matter to me whether he flies the flag to bring attention to his dealership or because he is very patriotic ... I love to see flags of great proportions. Can’t imagine that anyone would complain about the flapping noise, if there is indeed any, unless they were not particularly aligned with what the flag stands for.
i meant 109 foot pole...
Close. Not quite. Off by 81'.
Well the son has his own reality show on a&e and has a huge flag inside his dealership. His son owns the number one car dealership in the world.
http://www.aetv.com/kingofcars/
It will go down in FRHistory along with Hugh! & Series & Beeber-like device!.........
No, you meant a figantice pole.
Me, the next al baby?????
NOOOOooooooo!
It’s a American flag. Where’s the advertising gimmick to our flag.
For Vegas? I guess if he installed a volcano, two pirate ships and a light that could be spotted from Mars, that would be okay, but the flag isn't?
Whoever heard of such a thing.
Most of the car dealerships I've seen in Texas have a huge American flag flying from a very tall flag pole. Some of them even have a large Texas flag to keep it company. You should also see the flags American Bank flies over each of its branches.
fig & ant & ice...
Maybe if he stationed a stripper at the base of the pole it would be ok.
haha, i corrected myself before you did! one post too late, my friend.
Figantice is even bigger than hugh!
A new word has been coined! This is a figantice day for Free Republic!
LOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!......
I don’t care why he’s flying the flag. I think every American should have one.
There is too much hate for our country(and flag) these days.
Patriotism sells.
God Bless the USA and all that.
“Look at how pro-American I am. You want to buy from me, cause I fly the biggest flag.”
Stuff like that.
They overdo just about everything in Vegas, why not the flag. The West used to be populated with people who valued freedom. But the Hate America crowd has no appreciation for being able to fly as big as flag as one can, nor do they appreciate the treasure and blood sacrificed for the right to fly that flag.
Congressman Billybob
Only if you see this used in another thread somewhere else.
lolol
Geez, I hope not....
“Hugh! & Series & Beeber-like device!.........”
I adore our lovely Freeper vocabulary. I think we should always talk in code for safety purposes like spies!
Don’t forget that old standard “Thailand??” and our new favorite phrase:
“No wait, scratch that....”
Whenever I see American flags all over a car dealership I remember Dr. Johnson’s comment that “patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”.
Adding new tagline....
My little girl gets very excited when we see one on the highway, and to be honest, so do I.
I hope US flags DO bring in business. one, so that more car dealers will put them up and two, because it means there are still patriotic people out there.
I am stuned......
new freeper word ping and check out the picture.
After 9-11, I couldn’t even look at an American flag without getting all misty.
Power to this guy and his figantous flag and pole.
Here in Charleston, SC a dealership has a huge flag on their lot (it has been there for several years). It has become a land mark.
I wonder if the dealership can get the neighbors removed for the lound whining they are doing over this?
You need to tune ur beeber. I think it’s a bit stuned.
Oh, it's disturbing people, all right, but they're lying when they say it's the noise that bothers them.
LOL. This thread is too funny....
The birth of a new freeper term: figantice
I’m going to use that word on Festivus.
LOL!
Now I can’t get this guy’s theme song from his A&E reality show out of my head:
(He….He-He-He He’s the king… of cars)
King of cars, baby
We dooz-it large, baby
First in the nation
And it isn’t not no mirage, baby
I got the blue genie
Need a deal, come see me
Chopper edition low pros in the in the sign teaasies
We got the dope whips
You need to come and cop ‘em
We got the low prices
Cause I chop ‘em chop ‘em
(He….He-He-He He’s the king… of cars
I didn't think anything could be too big in Las Vegas. Outrageous is the name of the game.
I liked that show.
It had a real inside look at the seedy operations of high-pressure dealerships.
That guy - the King of Cars? He is now on my local (San Antonio) TV station on TV commercials for a local used car dealership.
I suppose he is nationwide now.... working for any dealership that will throw him a few dollars to hawk their cars.
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