Omnivore - Williamson Bros. Bar-B-Q cited for ‘We Support Our Troops’ flag

• http://clatl.com/atlanta/ImageArchives?by=1223504
• Marietta flag citation

According to Williamson Bros. Bar-B-Q general manager Michelle Jehlen, the restaurant was cited Wednesday by Marietta City Code Enforcement for flying a flag that says WE SUPPORT OUR TROOPS. According to Williamson Bros.’ Twitter page, the restaurant had flown the flag for more than 10 years, and was given 48 hours to take their POW and ‘We Support the Troops” flags down from their flagpole out front.

“We’re pretty outraged,” says Jehlen. “Our owners are big supporters of the military, and being so close to Dobbins Air Reserve Base, most of our clientele is affiliated with the military. We get a lot of military families and one of our part-time employees (an Air Force pilot) was just deployed to Afghanistan a few weeks ago.”

Apparently, it is against a City of Marietta ordinance to fly any non-governmental flags on a flag staff. Owners Danny and Larry Williamson, who complied with the citation shortly after the inspector left, are dedicated supporters of the military and believe the ordinance should be changed.

UPDATE: Several hours after this post went live, Williamson Bros. Bar-B-Q announced via Twitter that the City of Marietta apologized for the incident and the restaurant was allowed to put their flags back up.