Photo special to the MDJ
MARIETTA — After an uproar erupted on social media, the city of Marietta has apologized to a Williamson Bros. Bar-B-Q manager and told her the restaurant is welcome to fly flags expressing support for the military — just in time for the July 4 holiday.
Before the Roswell Road restaurant opened Wednesday morning, a code enforcement officer cited the eatery for flying non-governmental flags and said they must be taken down within 48 hours, General Manager Michelle Jehlen said.
The two flags in question were one bearing a POW-MIA logo and another with the insignias of America’s armed forces above the motto “We Support Our Troops”
“So we did take them down — we didn’t want the fine,” Jehlen said.
But because the flags have been flying in front of the restaurant every day for years and managers didn’t want customers to think they had taken them down just ahead of the July 4 holiday without good reason, they posted the citation on their Twitter and Facebook pages.
And that got everybody’s attention.
“It just blew up,” Jehlen said. “It went crazy.”
Video below is courtesy of our news partner Fox 5 AtlantaNews of the incident spread across the Internet, and patrons who asked where the flags had gone were shown where they were on display inside the restaurant — with the city’s warning hanging firmly between them.
“All the customers asked us last night and this morning (why the flags were down),” Jehlen said Thursday.
On Thursday morning, Brian Binzer, Marietta’s director of development services, went to the restaurant and apologized, telling Jehlen she was welcome to fly the two flags.
Binzer told the Journal that the code inspector who issued the warning couldn’t read the flags because the wind was not blowing at the time and had assumed they were advertisements for the business.
It is not city policy to cite a business for unauthorized flags without seeing the flags themselves, he said.
“Code inspectors customarily do not issue warnings based on assumptions and we are in the process of reviewing this matter internally,” Binzer said. “Part of this process is to see if procedures were followed or not and how we can improve the process to prevent a similar incident from happening again.”
Binzer would not reveal the identity of the code inspector.
Jehlen said the flag flap couldn’t have come at a worse time.
“It’s our busiest week of the year. It’s horrible timing on their part,” she said. “We’ve always supported the troops. (Restaurant founders) Danny and Larry Williamson support the community as a whole, but absolutely the military. So for anyone to ask us to take them down seems absurd.”
Flags have had a rough time in Marietta in recent years. In 2007, the city made national headlines when then-mayor Bill Dunaway initially told local members of Veterans of Foreign Wars that they could not hand out miniature flags during the city’s annual Fourth of July parade, citing a policy stating “Absolutely no distribution/throwing of candy or other materials during the parade — this is a safety issue and will be strictly enforced.”
Dunaway relented the weekend before the parade, saying no veterans would be arrested for handing out American flags.
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Good recovery by Binzer and the city.
It's anybody's guess as to why the inspector would do something like that. Maybe going by the "letter of the law" instead of using their own good judgement.
I am pretty sure it was all a big misunderstanding, but inspectors can get carried away sometimes.
If what you are saying is true and it is a pattern of behavior then I agree with you.
If you are at Williamson BBQ any day of the week, you see scores of men/women with military uniforms eating at this BBQ and been that way for years and years!! I don't see how anyone with a brain could miss that fact. Beside, how much more "government" can you get than a POW Flag and Flag with four branches of our military(department of defense government). What's next City of Marietta? Forbid the military members from walking down the city streets??!! Marietta, a city with a LONG LONG LONG Military heritage, Military National cemetary, Lockheed, Dobbins, Naval Air station, Army and Air National Guard headquarters for the State of Georgia. Marietta would be a small town if not for the MILITARY!
-Greenpeace?
-ACLU?
-Planned Parenthood?
-United Nations?
-LGBT ?
So, will you? Point here being that selective enforcement is NOT a victory for the rule of law (as seems to be the main point of this article). Change the law, don't rely on the taste or judgment of civil servants (and then threaten to fire them) to selectively enforce the standing law in accordance with the opinions of those with the loudest voices...oh, and while you're at it, change the law so it is also in accordance with the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
You fail to mention one important fact in your leftist rant. Not a one of the far left organizations you mention would be allowed to exist, much less fly a flag, if it were not for the men and women of the U.S. military who make that freedom possible. Try flying your left wing flags in an Arab country. Liberal progressives are always funny and never tell the truth. Are you one of Foley's nyms?
This is micromanagement and a revenue enhancement plan. Just nitpick honest patriotic citizens to death and lay on compound taxes in the form of non compliance fees and fines. Of course they have to write even more to pay for the headcount in this jobs program.
This is another example of Obama and the DemoKommies America. Massive federal regulation and denial of rights.
I mean we can't have Muslims, Atheists and America Haters offended by that corny old US flag now can we?
Sell outs.
Wonder who?
I did not "tell" anyone anything. This totally avoidable miss-understanding was the result of bad reporting in an AJC story concerning a city employee. It was then compounded by an inaccurate article by Marcus Howard. The matter was easily resolved in several meetings that Police Chef Dan Flynn and I had with the VFW.
As a matter of fact, this Fourth,I will again be helping the Lions Club in handing out thousands of
American Flags...as I have done for the past two years. I did help start the first modern day Marietta Fourth Celebration in 1969.
In the future,I do invite you to call me personally before you write about anything that happened while I was the Marietta Mayor.
William B. Dunaway
Bill, please just do all of us a favor and just go away...quietly.
Now we can add LYING to the description !!
Binzer stated the inspector could not see the flags because of no wind
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Anyone believe that lie??
He and the inspector they will not name should be fired for lying to the public.
As for not releasing the name...Hey bozos you work for us we are entitled to your name any time we want it so we can fire you
I guess commie politicians and government criminals want to forget the people they will ultimately have to fight for our freedoms.
Our government is a corrupt criminal enterprise.
I have to give the city of Marietta credit. Good job.
I think the city should have to buy everyone Williamson Bros. BBQ for the fourth...