Columnist Susan Snyder: Flag edict a symbol of ignorance

Friday, Nov. 8, 2002 | 4:20 a.m.

Robaire and Heather Orfaly have two American flags.

The small one hanging framed in their living room is tattered on one corner and smudged with smoke residue. It was plucked from the World Trade Center wreckage last December by a group of valley police officers and volunteers for whom the Henderson couple arranged a weeklong humanitarian mission.

The second flag was hung on the front of their home to welcome the team home. But the Mountain Pointe Owners Association told the Orfalys that flag wouldn't fly.

"When the team came back, we endeavored to honor them by displaying the flag," Orfaly said. "And all of a sudden this cold chill sweeps over. No one called us. No one talked to us."

Six months later they received written notice that the flag violated homeowner association rules. Orfaly said one board member finally explained that if they allow the Stars and Stripes, people might go around hanging the Confederacy's stars and bars or Nazi swastikas.

"We ought to be able to distinguish between hate flags and our national, unifying symbol," Orfaly said.

Now, people have a right to protect their property values, and ... oh, who are we kidding? Orfaly said he supports his neighbors' rights to not fly the flag or to think anything they want to about it.

But they're not thinking. That's the beauty of zero-tolerance policies. We don't have to think. We can simply feel safe and secure in knowing we all goose step to the same drummer.

"I thought everyone looked at (the flag) as an all-inclusive symbol that rose above party politics, and (religious) ideology and petty fiefdom," Orfaly said.

We're not talking about democracy. We're talking about homeowner associations. Orfaly said one neighbor was "cited" for having bird poop on his garage door. It's enough to make a person run out and buy two dozen garden gnomes.

The couple first received a June 29 letter telling them to remove the flag after July 4. An Oct. 2 letter says the board "reviewed the policy" and would allow the flag to be hung in a certain spot in a certain manner.

Actually, the Orfalys rent. So both letters were copies of originals sent to the house's Hednerson owner. The Orfalys' copies were stuck on the front door addressed to, "Tenant."

"Tenant," from people who are pictured the previous June sipping mimosas in the Orfalys' dining room during a Father's Day brunch the couple prepared for the neighborhood.

Orfaly doesn't understand why no neighbors spoke up when the flag first went up or why he wasn't invited to the meeting where "a cross-section of the community" decided his patriotism blasphemed a whole neighborhood.

"If our national symbol has turned into an eyesore, and it is driving the prices down, I'd like to speak about that," he said.

There will be plenty of speaking Monday. The Orfalys invited a few dozen friends and dignitaries to a Veterans Day flag-raising ceremony at their home. Festivities are to include an opera singer performing "The Star-Spangled Banner," a military color guard and a speech by state Sen. Mike Schneider, a Las Vegas Democrat and homeowner association reform advocate.

"The one thing we have in this country that does unify us all is that flag," Heather Orfaly said. "It's sad that they don't get it."