Bert Atkinson Jr. | On 12, Jul 2012

According to the Sun Chronicle, Massachusetts public housing residents are outraged after they were told they could no longer hang United States flags outside of their homes.

Wednesday afternoon, the Wrentham Housing Authority notified its tenants of a new policy banning the many patriotic flags displayed for Fourth of July celebrations by taping an unsigned letter to their doors.

“The Wrentham Housing Authority has been informed that the public display of the American flag in common areas is not permitted,” the letter read. It further adds that tenants are welcome to display flags anywhere inside their homes including windows, but not outside.

No other explanation was given for the rule and the Housing Authority did not comment.

In the most ironic part of the story, “flag-holding hardware is affixed to doors throughout the complex.”

Whatever the reasoning for the rule, it quickly rankled residents of the Wrentham housing, including Barbara Marshall, the only tenant to have a flag hung up outside her home Wednesday afternoon.

Marshall, 82, called the policy “unbelievable,” and said she’s proudly hung a flag outside her apartment for more than a dozen years.

“I’ve always had a flag,” she said. “I’m very upset.”

At times speaking through tears, Marshall said veterans have played an important role in her family’s history, from her brother landing in Normandy D-Day invasion during World War II, to her work in shelters, to her grandson clearing graves in Plainville.

“All my family is so indebted to the veterans, to that flag,” she said.”

Marshall said she would not remove the flag herself, saying, “If somebody wants to come and take the flag down, I’ll take pictures.”

COMMENT below: how do you feel about taxpayer funded housing having a flag ban?

UPDATE: AMERICAN FLAG CAN FLY