<p><;<script src="http://player.ooyala.com/iframe.js#pbid=55ce3a06495346ddb20768902d1e991c&;ec=toOTJ2czqR5xdSjc5cpZZaiL2rdBYQ3Y"></script>>;</p>
<p> ;</p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #212121; font-size: x-large;">UPDATE: The flag display was removed from the lobby, but it has now found a new home.</span></strong></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 24px; text-transform: none; line-height: 32px; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; font-family: Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><strong><em>FROM WTKR</em></strong></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 24px; text-transform: none; line-height: 32px; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; font-family: Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 1; background-color: #ffffff; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Portsmouth, Va. – Portsmouth Sheriff Bill Watson says he is furious after a group of judges told him to take down an American flag display.</p>
<p style="font: 20px/32px Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: #212121; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 1; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; background-color: #ffffff; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Sheriff Watson said his agency got the American flag display as a gift from members of the Portsmouth Fire Department a few weeks ago.</p>
<p style="font: 20px/32px Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: #212121; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 1; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; background-color: #ffffff; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">It’s made of old fire hoses which a sign beneath it that reads, “A Tribute to Public Safety.”</p>
<p style="font: 20px/32px Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: #212121; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 1; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; background-color: #ffffff; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><a href="https://localtvwtkr.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/american-flag-display.jpg"><img class="alignleft wp-image-243368" src="https://localtvwtkr.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/american-flag-display.jpg?w=547&;h=311" alt="American Flag Display" width="547" height="311" /></a>Watson said he requested to have it mounted on the wall in the lobby of the courthouse but was shocked by what he was told.</p>
<p style="font: 20px/32px Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: #212121; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 1; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; background-color: #ffffff; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Watson said he was told, “Not only do we not want it on the wall, we don’t want it in the courthouse.”</p>
<p style="font: 20px/32px Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: #212121; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 1; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; background-color: #ffffff; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Watson said, “I just can’t believe that they don’t want to display the American flag in a courthouse, I mean that’s the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”</p>
<p style="font: 20px/32px Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: #212121; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 1; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; background-color: #ffffff; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">NewsChannel 3 spoke with a judge who didn’t want to be identified about the issue. The judge told us it was decided that the lobby of the courthouse is not the appropriate place for the display.</p>
<p style="font: 20px/32px Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: #212121; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 1; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; background-color: #ffffff; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">He said they don’t want any display or memorial of it’s kind positioned in the lobby when people walk into the courthouse.</p>
<p style="font: 20px/32px Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: #212121; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 1; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; background-color: #ffffff; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">The judge said if you allow one type of display, then you will have to allow all types.</p>
<ul style="font: 20px/28px Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 14px 25px; padding: 0px; color: #212121; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 1; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; background-color: #ffffff; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
<li><em><a href="http://www.usflag.org/uscode36.html">Click here to look at the U.S. Flag Code</a></em></li>
</ul>
<p style="font: 20px/32px Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: #212121; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 1; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; background-color: #ffffff; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">The judge said having the display in the lobby sets the wrong precedent. The decision is upsetting Watson and others.</p>
<p style="font: 20px/32px Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: #212121; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 1; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; background-color: #ffffff; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Watson said, “They expect my deputies to put their life on the line for a judge. If somebody was going to come into a courtroom with a gun, the deputy is supposed to stand in front of the judge and take a bullet, but yet they won’t let us have our flag, saluting public safety? To me, that’s a slap in the face.”</p>
<p style="font: 20px/32px Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: #212121; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 1; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; background-color: #ffffff; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">The judge told News Channel 3 the Sheriff can hang whatever he wants in his office, which is located on the first floor of the building next to the lobby.</p>
<p style="font: 20px/32px Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: #212121; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 1; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; background-color: #ffffff; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Watson says if it comes to it, he will mount the flag in the window of his office and would rather be sent to jail than take it down. &#8230;<strong><em>MORE</em></strong></p>
<p style="font: 20px/32px Lato, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: #212121; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 1; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; background-color: #ffffff; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><div id="metaslider-id-3609" style="max-width: 750px;" class="ml-slider-3-100-1 metaslider metaslider-flex metaslider-3609 ml-slider ms-theme-default" role="region" aria-label="Advertisers" data-height="500" data-width="750">
 <div id="metaslider_container_3609">
 <div id="metaslider_3609" class="flexslider">
 <ul class='slides'>
 <li style="display: block; width: 100%;" class="slide-11695 ms-image " aria-roledescription="slide" data-date="2016-08-03 00:11:16"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/lindascafelpcity/" target="_blank" aria-label="View Slide Details" class="metaslider_image_link"><img src="https://www.the-chesapeake.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Lindas-On-The-Go-side-604x403.jpg" height="500" width="750" alt="" class="slider-3609 slide-11695 msDefaultImage" /></a><div class="caption-wrap"><div class="caption">Watson said, “They expect my deputies to put their life on the line for a judge. If somebody was going to come into a courtroom with a gun, the deputy is supposed to stand in front of the judge and take a bullet, but yet they won’t let us have our flag, saluting public safety? To me, that’s a slap in the face.”</div></div></li>
 <li style="display: none; width: 100%;" class="slide-1464 ms-image " aria-roledescription="slide" data-date="2011-04-03 01:26:27"><a href="http://allpawnandguns.com/" target="_blank" aria-label="View Slide Details" class="metaslider_image_link"><img src="https://www.the-chesapeake.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/All-Pawn-March-2011-Ches-750x500.jpg" height="500" width="750" alt="" class="slider-3609 slide-1464 msDefaultImage" /></a><div class="caption-wrap"><div class="caption">Watson said, “They expect my deputies to put their life on the line for a judge. If somebody was going to come into a courtroom with a gun, the deputy is supposed to stand in front of the judge and take a bullet, but yet they won’t let us have our flag, saluting public safety? To me, that’s a slap in the face.”</div></div></li>
 <li style="display: none; width: 100%;" class="slide-15651 ms-image " aria-roledescription="slide" data-date="2019-05-28 19:45:10"><a href="https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B07S8F7WF6&;preview=newtab&;linkCode=kpe&;ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_NqC7CbPH5FBPA&;tag=stmarystodaonlin" target="_blank" aria-label="View Slide Details" class="metaslider_image_link"><img src="https://www.the-chesapeake.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/MurderUSA_AUDIO-750x500.jpg" height="500" width="750" alt="" class="slider-3609 slide-15651 msDefaultImage" title="boy screams opening the mouth" /></a></li>
 <li style="display: none; width: 100%;" class="slide-16578 ms-image " aria-roledescription="slide" data-date="2021-05-07 14:29:41"><img src="https://www.the-chesapeake.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Buzzs-Marina-2019-750x500.jpg" height="500" width="750" alt="" class="slider-3609 slide-16578 msDefaultImage" title="Buzzs Marina 2019" /></li>
 <li style="display: none; width: 100%;" class="slide-16742 ms-image " aria-roledescription="slide" data-date="2021-10-24 22:51:01"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/lindascafelpcity" target="_blank" aria-label="View Slide Details" class="metaslider_image_link"><img src="https://www.the-chesapeake.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Lindas-Cafe-Now-Open-at-new-location-750x500.jpg" height="500" width="750" alt="" class="slider-3609 slide-16742 msDefaultImage" title="Lindas Cafe Now Open at new location" /></a><div class="caption-wrap"><div class="caption"><div>Linda's Cafe new location now open</div></div></div></li>
 <li style="display: none; width: 100%;" class="slide-16901 ms-image " aria-roledescription="slide" data-date="2022-01-15 22:19:57"><a href="http://floridafishingkayaks.com/" target="_blank" aria-label="View Slide Details" class="metaslider_image_link"><img src="https://www.the-chesapeake.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Wavewalk-Kayaks-1-750x500.jpg" height="500" width="750" alt="" class="slider-3609 slide-16901 msDefaultImage" title="Wavewalk Kayaks" /></a></li>
 <li style="display: none; width: 100%;" class="slide-17596 ms-image " aria-roledescription="slide" data-date="2023-08-11 22:30:44"><img src="https://www.the-chesapeake.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Press-pass-OConnor-email-750x500.jpg" height="500" width="750" alt="" class="slider-3609 slide-17596 msDefaultImage" title="Press pass O&#039;Connor email" /><div class="caption-wrap"><div class="caption"><div>WHISTLE BLOWERS WANTED</div></div></div></li>
 <li style="display: none; width: 100%;" class="slide-17916 ms-image " aria-roledescription="slide" data-date="2024-08-03 21:43:22"><a href="https://www.huntplumbingheatingandairconditioning.com/" target="_blank" aria-label="View Slide Details" class="metaslider_image_link"><img src="https://www.the-chesapeake.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/HUNT-Plumbing-Heating-and-Air-Conditioning-750x500.jpg" height="500" width="750" alt="" class="slider-3609 slide-17916 msDefaultImage" title="HUNT Plumbing Heating and Air Conditioning" /></a><div class="caption-wrap"><div class="caption"><div>Click to website for Special Offers</div></div></div></li>
 <li style="display: none; width: 100%;" class="slide-28836 ms-image " aria-roledescription="slide" data-date="2024-11-06 20:52:51"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D17J3VS7?binding=kindle_edition&;ref_=dbs_s_ks_series_rwt_tkin&;qid=1730944414&;sr=1-2" target="_blank" aria-label="View Slide Details" class="metaslider_image_link"><img src="https://www.the-chesapeake.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/32-Book-Series-THE-CHESAPEAKE-TODAY--381x254.png" height="500" width="750" alt="" class="slider-3609 slide-28836 msDefaultImage" title="32 Book Series THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY" /></a></li>
 <li style="display: none; width: 100%;" class="slide-28898 ms-image " aria-roledescription="slide" data-date="2025-05-12 08:27:53"><img src="https://www.the-chesapeake.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FITZIES-IS-BACK-FOR-2025-556x370.jpg" height="500" width="750" alt="" class="slider-3609 slide-28898 msDefaultImage" title="FITZIES IS BACK FOR 2025" /></li>
 </ul>
 </div>
 
 </div>
</div></span></p>

Virginia Judges told Portsmouth Sheriff Bill Watson that display of American flag was not “appropriate” for courthouse lobby
