Oregon Veteran faced with eviction if he flys the U.S. flag on Veteran's day

Newest update! VICTORY! 11-5-2011

Veteran will be allowed to fly the U.S. Flag on Veteran's Day!

Read the latest at the bottom of the post.
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Absolutely disgusting and this has zero merit or grounds to stand on except to perhaps silence an American Veteran on Veteran's Day?

The management of the apartment complex wants to avoid "a precedent that could lead to more-controversial flags or banners." Like what, the flag of islam, La raza, the muslim brotherhood, black panthers, the KKK? No, this is an attempt to silence an American Vet honoring his country, his father, his brother, both which have served our country. The flag this vet, Edward Zivica wants to fly was the one given to him by the Army when his father a World war Two Veteran, passed away.

This is slamming the door on the first amendment and St. Vincent de Paul should be ashamed of themselves.

Help me get this Veteran's story out and support this vet's RIGHT to fly the American Flag on one of the most important days of the year.

Terry McDonald, please right this wrong!

UPDATE:  Contact information for St.Vincent de Paul is at the end of the post

From the Bend Bulletin.

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Springfield veteran threatened with eviction for flying U.S. flag

Edward Zivica, a 70-year-old veteran, poses with his flag in Springfield on Wednesday. Zivica has been threatened with eviction from his apartment in Springfield for placing an American flag on the side of the building on holidays.
Kevin Clark / The (Eugene) Register-Guard

 SPRINGFIELD — Edward Zivica, a 70-year-old who served in the Navy in the 1960s, faces a hard choice come Veterans Day next week: He can obey the rules and remain in his apartment complex, or he can follow his tradition of hanging the American flag outside his place.

The managers at his subsidized housing project in Springfield have given him notice he’ll be evicted if he again violates the rules against putting anything on the exterior walls.

That notice came after the flag went up on Oct. 27 for Navy Day, one of several that Zivica marks by hanging it outside the community room near the main entrance. He’d gotten a letter from the management in June telling him to quit.

Zivica was in the Navy’s Submarine Service from 1960 to 1967, the Eugene Register-Guard reported.

The flag, he said, was one the Army sent when his dad, a World War II veteran, died. Zivica says a brother also served as a Marine in Korea.

He told the paper he doesn’t have many options for housing, so he would knuckle under and sign a compliance notice, which he called “a confession” and “an apology.”

But he also said he finds it hard not to hang the flag on Veterans Day.

“It’s one of the biggest days of the year for us,” he said. “... I guess we’ll see what happens.”

The downtown apartment complex is managed by St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County, which opened it in 2009 with Zivica as one of the first tenants.

CEO Terry McDonald said the action wasn’t aimed at the American flag as such but rather at preventing a precedent that could lead to more-controversial flags or banners.

“If you’re going to live in a situation where there’s lots of other tenants, you need to follow the rules that are set up,” McDonald told KVAL-TV, which first reported the story.

After residents requested one, management has put up a flagpole. Zivica calls it “flimsy and cheesy-looking,” plastic with no lanyard to hoist the flag or lower it to half-staff. The small flag, he said, has faded to orange after less than a year.
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 Here is the article that states Mr. Zivica will be allowed to fly his U.S. Flag on Veteran's Day!

Apartment managers relent, say veteran can hang flag

SPRINGFIELD — The management at an apartment complex here has relented and will allow a 70-year-old Navy veteran to hang his American flag in the commons area on Veterans Day — and some other days, as well.

The nonprofit organization that runs the subsidized downtown housing complex had threatened to evict Edward Zivica for violating the rules against hanging anything on exterior walls. But St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County said Friday it got “a lot of attention” when the story spread nationally the day before.

So, it announced an agreement with Zivica: He can stay and the flag can be displayed on days the two parties have agreed on, “provided it is done in a manner that’s respectful to the flag and our other tenants.”

Zivica has been a resident at the apartment complex in Springfield since it opened in 2009 and has been at odds with the management over his practice of hanging a large flag in the commons area on significant days.

The last such was Navy Day, Oct. 27.

After that, Zivica got a notice saying he’d be evicted unless he signed a compliance note.

Zivica was in the Navy’s Submarine Service in the 1960s. He said the flag he’d been displaying was one the Army sent him on the death of his father, a World War II veteran. 

KVAL-TV and the Register-Guard reported the agreement. Details about the specific days weren’t immediately available.

Here is link to the above update for today, 11-5-2011

 Original article is here.

Let SVDP know how you feel about their unpatriotic injustice to this Vet! 


Click here to contact St.Vincent de Paul. 

You can call St. Vincent de Paul Lane Country at this number:  541-687-5820