A Jacksonville, Florida, code inspector was placed on leave after she warned a store to remove U.S. military flags from its roof — but most notably after video surfaced showing the inspector getting in a customer's face who was upset about her warning. (Image source: YouTube screenshot)
A Jacksonville, Florida, code inspector was placed on leave after she warned a store to remove U.S. military flags from its roof — but most notably after video surfaced showing the inspector getting in a customer’s face who was upset about her warning, WJAX-TV reported.
What happened?
Melinda Power entered Jaguar Power Sports with her supervisor Monday and said the store’s rooftop flags — representing each branch of the military — violated city code, the station said. The store also flies two American flags and a Jacksonville Jaguars flag along with them, WJAX said.
Employees told the station a customer overheard Power issue the warning, during which she told the business to correct the violation or risk “prosecution for the offense,” the station said.
“We cater to our men and women, both retired and active military, so it was personal,” store manager Marcy Moyer told WJAX in an earlier story. “We felt like it was a personal attack.”
Thing is, the customer is a military veteran — and as you might expect, he was upset about the warning to the store and a confrontation soon unfolded, which was caught on surveillance video, WJAX said.
‘You did nothing for this country’
“[Power] says, ‘What did you do for this country?’ He says, ‘I took three bullets to the leg. I almost lost my life for this country. I’m retired. I’m a veteran,'” store employee Katie Klasse told the station. “She gets in his face this close and says, ‘You did nothing for this country.'”
Employees said Power was so disruptive and disrespectful to the veteran that they asked her to leave, WJAX reported.
What was the reaction?
Outrage ensued. City Hall was inundated with calls about the citation, the station said, adding that of 50 calls taken in the first hour of business, most wanted the inspector fired.
Military veterans fumed in front of TV cameras outside Jaguar Power Sports, saying the inspector’s actions were insulting and out of line, particularly when those who’ve served in the armed forces have given so much to their country.
What did the mayor say?
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry on Tuesday morning said Power and her supervisor “have been placed on leave” pending the outcome of a review, WJAX reported.
“What I saw reported is 100 percent inconsistent with how I expect every city employee to interact with our citizens,” Curry also said, the station reported.
He added, “As the son and grandson of military veterans, and the mayor of a city with a proud history of commitment to our nation’s defense, I will not tolerate disparagement or disrespect of the men and women who serve or served. On behalf of the City of Jacksonville, I apologize to veterans and service members who are rightly troubled by the events that have been reported,” WJAX said.
Curry also explained that “current ordinance does not address residents or businesses displaying military flags,” but he “will not allow any citation of those who demonstrate their support for the armed forces. My team is working with the city’s Office of General Counsel to bring clarity to the relevant city laws,” the station reported.
What did the veteran who argued with Power say later?
The customer who argued with Power told WJAX he’s pleased that the mayor responded, adding that he’d like Power to apologize to the veteran community — not necessarily to him — and that he “doesn’t want anyone to lose their job.”
How did the store respond to the inspector being placed on leave?
Moyer also told the station she doesn’t want to see Power fired: “I know that our customer base would love to see me say, ‘Fire her,’ but I hate to see anybody lose their job. That was not the purpose of this. It was to bring awareness and hope that someone would not treat someone else that way.”
What did Power allegedly say later?
Power — in a now-deleted Facebook post — allegedly recalled the incident differently, saying she thought the customer had asked her, “Do you know what I did?” WJAX said, adding that her response was “nothing.”
But she also allegedly admitted: “I should never have been unprofessional and disrespectful period. Sincerely apologize.”
She reportedly added that her father, husband and son-in-law all have served in the military and that she has “the utmost respect for the military.”
Keep these in mind as you contemplate the direction of the American government over the past 50 years and especially since the Obama election.
The Goals of Communism
(as read into the congressional record January 10, 1963, from "The Naked Communist" by Cleon Skousen)
1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
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