To the editor:

A recent front page of the Journal-World shows a night-flying flag with a Baptist preacher (the Rev. Scott Hanks) doing a “John Wayne” decrying to those critics who oppose him. “As far as I’m concerned, whoever doesn’t want it is not American.”

Well how about this, Mr. Hanks, as far as the law is concerned, you are breaking it! Hiding behind the flag does not change this fact! Moreover, every American has just as much right to their opinion as you, and disagreeing with you and your “holier than thou” attitude does not make them un-American. Who are you to judge?

Your actions are ones of intolerance, bigotry and narrow-mindedness when you castigate those who dare to disagree. Who made you king? It’s not about the flag; it is about your insistence to shine spotlights on it all night knowing full well it is against the law!

Is this what you teach children in Sunday school, the example your church wants to set?

Because Heritage Baptist Church is tax-exempt does not excuse it from the law of the land. You do not get a free ride, nor should your unlawful actions, disguised in the name of patriotism, be tolerated or condoned. This is still a country run by the rule of law, not clerics. It will be interesting to see if Douglas County supervisors will fine you the $500 a day you and your church so richly deserve.

Curt Bennett,

Lawrence