A flag flap has some people saying Ocala is violating their constitutional rights.
It's the same city under fire for a saggy pants ordinance that passed earlier this summer.
The incident began when a citizen complained about the number of signs in an Ocala shopping plaza. Code enforcement officers noticed a flag hanging outside of Gear Barrel, a Marion County-based sporting goods store. The code enforcement officers told the store’s owner that he needed to remove the flag or he would face fines ranging from $250 to $500 per day.
Now, the yellow Gadsden flag with the words, "Don't tread on me" — popularized during the Revolutionary War — hangs inside the business, replaced on the flagpole by the American flag.
According to city code, the American flag and the state of Florida flag are the only flags permitted to be flown year-round in Ocala. Other flags can be flown four times per year and up to two times per week by a special permit.
"The business owner is certainly emotionally connected (to the Gadsden flag), but we are not able to look at the flag in terms of its content," said Mark Mondell, the assistant city manager in Ocala. "We only see it as a flag or another sign."
The owner has taken his issue to social media, and customers have defended him.
"I'm flabbergasted (that) in my own hometown, they aren't that liberal, and I'm not understanding why," said Mark Schwanke, a customer. "They are definitely overstepping their bounds."
First Amendment lawyers have come to the owner's defense, too.
The Rutherford Institute sent a letter to the city Wednesday stating the right to fly flags had already been decided by an appeals court in Clearwater more than 20 years ago.
"What we're seeing is the criminalization of free speech, manifested in incidents where the government attempts to censor speech that is controversial, politically incorrect or unpopular," said John Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute.
Ocala officials countered, though, stating its currently working 33 other cases where businesses were cited for improper signage, including a car dealership which was told to remove its Mexican flag.
The City Council on Tuesday asked staff to review the ordinance and bring back options that could allow for additional flags to be flown. The issue is expected to be discussed at a meeting in early October.
"We're going to try to clarify that and hopefully it will make people feel more comfortable, but I don't think the city of Ocala is heading in the direction where we are overregulating," Mondell said.
Attorneys for the business owner gave the city until Friday to drop its case against him — the same day fines are set to kick in if the owner decides to fly it again.