> Dispute over flag protest erupts in Wisc. village
>
> By ROBERT IMRIE, Associated Press Writer Robert Imrie, Associated Press 
> Writer Fri Jul 10, 2:44 pm ET
>
> WAUSAU, Wis. - An American flag flown upside down as a protest in a 
> northern Wisconsin village was seized by police before a Fourth of July 
> parade and the businessman who flew it - an Iraq war veteran - claims the 
> officers trespassed and stole his property.
>
> A day after the parade, police returned the flag and the man's protest - 
> over a liquor license - continued.
>
> The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin is considering legal 
> action against the village of Crivitz for violating Vito Congine Jr.'s' 
> First Amendment rights, Executive Director Chris Ahmuty said.
>
> "It is not often that you see something this blatant," Ahmuty said.
>
> In mid-June, Congine, 46, began flying the flag upside down - an accepted 
> way to signal distress - outside the restaurant he wants to open in 
> Crivitz, a village of about 1,000 people some 65 miles north of Green Bay.
>
> He said his distress is likely bankruptcy because the village board 
> refused to grant him a liquor license after he spent nearly $200,000 to 
> buy and remodel a downtown building for an Italian supper club.
>
> Congine's upside-down-flag represents distress to him; to others in town, 
> it represents disrespect of the flag.
>
> Hours before a Fourth of July parade, four police officers went to 
> Congine's property and removed the flag under the advice of Marinette 
> County District Attorney Allen Brey.
>
> Neighbor Steven Klein watched in disbelief.
>
> "I said, 'What are you doing?' Klein said. "They said, 'It is none of your 
> business.'"
>
> The next day, police returned the flag.
>
> Brey declined comment Friday.
>
> Marinette County Sheriff Jim Kanikula said it was not illegal to fly the 
> flag upside down but people were upset and it was the Fourth of July.
>
> "It is illegal to cause a disruption," he said.
>
> The parade went on without any problems, Kanikula said.
>
> Village President John Deschane, 60, an Army veteran who served in 
> Vietnam, said many people in town believe it's disrespectful to fly the 
> flag upside down.
>
> "If he wants to protest, let him protest but find a different way to do 
> it," Deschane said.
>
> Congine, a Marine veteran who served in Iraq in 2004, said he intends to 
> keep flying the flag upside down.
>
> "It is pretty bad when I go and fight a tyrannical government somewhere 
> else," Congine said, "and then I come home to find it right here at my 
> front door."
>
>