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Nadine Wimmer reportingA spray-painted peace sign on the American flag, is the visual protest a Park City woman chose to hang from her front door.
BETH FRATKIN/FLAG OWNER: "SINCE I AM AN AMERICAN THESE ACTIONS ARE BEING DONE IN MY NAME, AND I FIND THAT VERY OFFENSIVE."
People on this road to Deer Valley see it, one left notes on her porch. Others voice dismay.
Harris Pollock: "IT STANDS FOR LIBERTY, IT STANDS FOR FREEDOM, IT STANDS FOR SELF EXPRESSION, BUT THAT DOESN'T GIVE THE RIGHT TO DESECRATE THE FLAG OR BURN THE FLAG. I THINK THAT'S TOTALLY WRONG. "
But at least one person was so offended by her display, they actually waved down a police officer in the street and asked whether there's a law banning desecration of the flag.
CHIEF LLOYD EVANS/PARK CITY P.D.: "THERE IS A STATUTE IN TITLE 76 THAT'S CALLED ABUSE OF FLAG, THAT SAYS YOU CAN'T PUT A SYMBOL ON THE AMERICAN FLAG."
But when police confronted her, she didn't back down.
Fratkin teaches mass communication law at the Unviersity of Utah. She quickly cites a Supreme Court decision that upholds symbolic speech involving a flag.
Park City officials say the case is closed. But that still may not endear her to her neighbors.
BETH FRATKIN: "I FELT LIKE I WANTED TO EXPRESS MY OWN PERSONAL OPPOSITION AND PROVOKE SOME THOUGHTS, SINCE AS A TEACHER THAT'S MY JOB."
City officials follow up on complaints, but say they won't prosecute a case where the Supreme Court decision takes precedence.
