Flag Man Picks Right Day for Court to Hear Flap Over Complaints

Flag Day was a busy day for Thomas (Ski) Demski, who first held the appropriate patriotic observance at his house and then paraded to a Long Beach courtroom where he pleaded not guilty to having a noisy flag.

Demski, whose giant, flapping flags have drawn complaints from neighbors and city officials for months, asked for a jury trial and got one scheduled for next month. Then, just in case, he asked about the maximum sentence, should he lose his battle to keep his giant U.S. flags waving in his front yard. The answer was six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

A round of gasps and murmurs came from the courtroom audience, which included about 20 of Demski’s supporters, some holding miniature flags.

“I really can’t believe people anymore,” said Julie Valenta, one of Demski’s neighbors who does not mind his 24-hour-a-day displays of patriotism. “Taking up (court) time like this.”

Several hours earlier, the group had gathered at the Long Beach home of the well-known local character, who looks like Santa Claus and owns flags as large as a football field. Tuesday’s flag-raising ceremony also brought to Demski’s place--a combination home and bumper-sticker business--the 11th U.S. Coast Guard District Color Guard, hundreds of children, veterans and curious onlookers.

Karen Dumont, 41, strolled over with one of her daughters and her 9-month-old grandson.

“I think he needs to learn to have pride in his country,” she said of the baby.

Les Hilliard, a retiree and World War II veteran, came from Whittier.

“If they want to prosecute noise, why don’t they get people with some of these loud stereos,” Hilliard suggested.

Dumont, Hilliard and other supporters of Demski argued that people who live in downtown Long Beach should be used to noise from traffic and construction. How much noise could a flag make?

Plenty, according to Demski’s critics.

“We have actually had people in the last couple of years move out,” said Dick Dekreek, owner of a nearby real estate business that manages about 30 apartments in the area.

“Listen to that flag,” Dekreek said, noting a “plopping” sound that competed with the noise of passing cars. Most of the complaints are directed at the noise at night, when there is little traffic. The flood-lit, flapping flag atop Demski’s 132-foot pole is all that people hear when they are trying to sleep, said Donna Coffman, another real estate agent with tenants in the area.

After receiving a petition from unhappy neighbors, city Health Department officials took measurements from nearby homes and agreed that the flag makes too much noise. Then they asked Demski to lower the flag at night. When he refused, they charged him with seven misdemeanor violations of the city’s noise ordinance.

Demski said he cannot lower his flag on windy nights because it would rip. In addition, some of his flags are impossible for one man to handle, especially when it is rainy or windy, he said.

It took about half a dozen people to maneuver the flag Demski took out for Tuesday’s ceremony--a 47-by-82-foot model. As the crowd looked on, the flag caught on a light fixture and was ripped a little. The wind was too strong, Demski explained.

City officials and the complaining neighbors say Demski is not reasonable, that he could fly a smaller flag.

“If we all do things the way Ski does, this town would be a mess,” Dekreek said. Coffman said Demski, who arranged to have his arraignment on Flag Day, is a “publicity seeker.”

But Demski was unmoved.

“I think the flag will continue to fly,” he said after his court appearance. “I’m not going to give up.”