Jul 9, 2007 12:06 pm US/Central
Flag Burning Incident Angers Family
Police Say Fire Was Isolated Incident; But Intentionally Set
By Emily McFarlan, Naperville Sun staff writer
NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Naperville Sun) ―
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Michael Emrie, 20, left, came home from a Fourth of July cookout to find his family's American flag in flames in their Naperville yard. "It was just wrong," said his mom, Beth Emrie, right.
Danielle Gardner/Naperville Sun
Returning home from a friend's Chicago apartment late July 4, Michael Emrie thought the American flag illuminated year-round on his parents' lawn looked brighter than usual.
Then he realized it was on fire.
"I was very angry," the 20-year-old Naperville resident said. "This is after coming back from a friend's Fourth of July party, having fun and being patriotic."
As his friend slowed the car in which they were riding, Emrie jumped from the vehicle and raced to the flag hanging from a pole drilled into a tree in the Emries' yard. He suffered a minor burn on his right hand when he threw the four-by-six-foot flag to the ground and stomped out the flames. The flag was destroyed.
The fire appears to have been intentionally set, Naperville police said, but there are no known suspects. It was an isolated incident.
Officers arrived on the scene after receiving a call from the Emries at 1:24 a.m. July 5, and estimated the damage to be worth about $25, the price Michael Emrie's mother, Beth, paid when she bought the flag two or three years ago.
"The monetary value is nothing. It's the principle," Beth Emrie said.
Beth Emrie, who was awake when Michael Emrie walked into the house with the burned flag slung over his shoulder, said she heard nothing prior to the incident that would suggest it was started by an errant firework.
Michael Emrie said the way the flag burned also suggests it was intentionally set.
"Somebody definitely lit it. It looks like someone lit the bottom corner on fire, and it moved its way up," Michael Emrie said.
Beth Emrie said she was "livid," "ashamed" and "floored" someone would set fire to her flag on the Fourth of July.
"We are strong supporters of our country," she said. "My entire family has been involved in Boy Scouts, but beyond that, we believe in this country. We believe in all of the principles the Scouts adhere to - love of country, love of family, love of God."
But Michael Emrie, a history major at Northern Illinois University, said he also strongly supports Americans' differing beliefs, the freedom of speech - and the right to burn the flag.
"The moment you come on my property, that's burning what I believe in," he said. "They're just lucky I didn't see them."
(CBS 2, the Naperville Sun and the Aurora Beacon-News are news partners covering stories in the western suburbs of Chicago.)
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