The notes Doug Wight left on the scene spark my humor, reminding me of the movie “V” for “VENDETTA.” Much like the theatrical mask worn by the film’s character “V” suddenly began to appear on people all around the city, I envision a sudden rash of clandestine flag burnings all across America.
Most of the few people who have heard about Doug Wight setting the flags on fire gained their limited awareness from the few regional newspapers that briefly reported the arrest on December 26 and his arraignment on December 28, and most of the news articles, at least partly, focused public attention on the fact that Doug Wight is homeless.
On December 23, Wight was stopped for a traffic infraction and his truck was matched to reports of one spotted on the scene of the first flag burning incident in Palmer, MA, on December 7. Wight was arrested and jailed when he could not produce his drivers’ license, which he later did. The police impounded Wight’s truck and ransacked everything inside it. On December 26, the police arrested Wight at 4:30 in the afternoon at an apartment complex in Northampton.
On December 27, Doug Wight was arraigned in Northampton District Court. Wight was in handcuffs and leg irons, an appropriate treatment, some said, for disrespecting the American flag, an example of the oversexed security industry, said others, given Doug Wight’s decades of service to the public. Homeless and indigent, Wight was given a public defender and charged with trespassing and destruction of personal property.
The initial charges all stemmed from the incident on December 21 where a 5-by-9 foot American flag that hung from a birch tree outside of a home in Northampton was reduced to ashes. Charges for the other dates would come later.
“This flag burned up in less than five seconds and then it was out,” says Wight. “The tree is 20 feet from the house and it is the middle of winter with several feet of snow on the ground. There was absolutely no chance of further fire damage and the charred limb is so minor it is clearly an act of desperation to create a legal issue out of it.”
The note found at the scene was signed by the “American Patriot Liberation Front” and it claimed the United States was oppressing millions of people around the world. Police found a similar sign in Doug Wight’s truck.
The home belonged to a family whose daughter is a marine in Iraq and whose son had enlisted but not yet served. Doug Wight says he has compassion for the family but cites bigger issues at stake. “It’s very sad that his daughter will have to die or be seriously wounded before he ‘gets it’ and wakes up,” said Wight.
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