Honoring War Dead Now a Crime in Layton, Utah

Layton changes ordinances regarding residential signs

http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2812530
By Paul Rolly / Salt Lake Tribune

Since Mike Norton, of Layton, began displaying the pictures of American soldiers killed in Iraq on an illuminated sign in his front yard, his home has been vandalized, cars have stopped in front of his home and honked horns in the early morning hours and he has received anonymous harassing phone calls.

Now the city of Layton has gotten into the act.

Norton, who was told by a city official last winter that the sign in his yard did not violate zoning ordinances, received a letter from the Layton City Attorney's Office recently informing him that, upon further review, the sign does violate the ordinance and he would have 10 days to take it down.

The sign currently contains 1,715 postage-stamp-sized pictures of each dead soldier that Norton downloads from CNN's Web site. The number is updated whenever there is a new casualty. Above the pictures is a large bold-faced headline denoting the latest number of Americans killed in Iraq. Next to the sign is an American flag.

Norton says that by day, many people, including veterans, stop by and thank him for keeping the sacrifices of the soldiers and their families in the public eye. But by night he is harassed by anonymous antagonists, including one who shined a spotlight into his 6-year-old daughter's window.

The letter, from Layton Assistant City Attorney Stephen Garside, said the city inspector who told Norton six months ago that his sign was OK used the wrong code section in reviewing the sign.

Norton responded by telling the city to cite him, because he could find nothing in the code to indicate a violation and, he noted, the city code specifically exempts memorials. His sign is a memorial to the soldiers.

Norton has obtained an attorney and is prepared to fight. "I will go to jail before I will pay a fine for displaying a sign that honors the war dead," he said.

apparently to acknowledge the sacrifice of those lost is to dishonor their memory.

apparently to forget them completely as individuals is to honor them.

somebody please explain this mentallity to me 😖

Putting attention on them makes Bush looks bad probably...

But what the ****, if the guy has the right to do it then he can do it, and seeing as there was nothing in it against the law 6 months ago there isn't going to be something about it now. Those people should just **** off and leave him alone

i think this article sooooooooo illustrates the tragic problem with
'patriotic' people such as the ones who harass this man. i put 'patriotic' in quotes because in actuality they are lowlife bottom feeding scum posing as patriots.

this man feels enough for his fallen brothers and sisters that he would create a memorial which honors each and every one of them. no signs on the side that say "END THE WAR" or "NO BLOOD FOR OIL!!".......just pictures of the fallen and an american flag. yet people found this to be offensive, the same as seeing photos of flag draped coffins....offensive. WHY?

why is it offensive and unpatriotic and unamerican to honor the dead? not with a political agenda, not in support or contempt of the war, but just to honor them. why is it worthy of harrassment and hatred?

the answer is simple. because the very people who are 'offended' honestly dont care about the lives of our troops. the very people who try to browbeat you about honoring them by supporting bush express that support through denial. as fishy said, it could put our furer in a bad light, to acknowledge the men and women who died. so they must be erased from memory....to honor them.

I didn't know that putting pictures up of dead people in your front yard was "honoring".

please nobody quote kidrock

PLEASE

Good lord, how lame. This is one of the most backwards ass things I've heard of.

Blatant attempt at propoganda via harrasment her. I say good for this dude for telling the officials to cite him for it.. I hope they DONT back down and I hope stuff like this makes national news EVERY night.. Arent we supposed to be in Iraq fighting for FREEDOM? Oh the irony of it all..

He was creating a memorial its honoring them...

That something like that could be seen as offensive or wrong is just bullshit. To forbid it when the law doesn't that just makes you deserve to die.

He wasn't being unpatriotic, on the contrary. He went threw a lot of problems and if this is somehow made illegal i'm going to use this article in every thread where people say that you should honor the American soldiers for their sacrifise.

Maybe it is illegal becuase it is bothering everybody in town? Just like if I went outside and put up pictures of Hitler and swastikas everyware.

It would be my freedom to do that right?

But he's not,
He's not supporting anyone or anything, Just paying respects to the soldiers.

Exactly. It's not like he's saying "Bush is evil" or anything, he's showing respect and honoring those who have died. It's the same as people who put up crosses where people have died in car accidents. If this guy has an ulterior motive, he's not showing it.

Originally posted by Tptmanno1
But he's not,
He's not supporting anyone or anything, Just paying respects to the soldiers.

When it comes to city ordinances, it is irrelevant what your actual "cause" is and whether it's right or wrong. It's the effect the city officials think your actions are causing that's the issue.

so rather than target those who stalk and harrass (which to my understanding is against the law) they reward them by punishing a man for constructing a memorial? why not just take a sledge hammer to every war memorial in the u.s. then?

Have they caught the people who vandalized his house? If so, then they should be punished.

On a similar note:
I have a communist Homeowner's Association that patrols after me so I don't park boats and s*** out in the front yard and let my grass grow 3 feet high. I'm against it, but unfortunately I pay $300 per year for them to police me.

Originally posted by botankus
Have they caught the people who vandalized his house? If so, then they should be punished.

given the town's solution to addressing the problem, i doubt they bothered staking the place out. usually in cases of harrassment such as this its only a handful of people, if not one or two. the right thing would have been to have the place watched by police. the lazy, easy, cost effective way would be to just threaten the man with legal action for no good reason and forsake justice...which they did...because they suck

Wow, thats just sad. Someone in this thread needs to grow up but I'm not going to say any names.

Shameful to hear this....

As Bilb said... The irony is indeed strong in this situation pertaining to the freedom issue....

Regardless of anyones political views, the people were sent to Iraq by your leader and they regardless of their personal views on the wars cause, they dutifully layed down their lives... This should not be covered up.

This guy clearly lives in a town full of arseholes....

Go Mr.Norton, I say...!!

Can we have a picture of the sign?

Originally posted by Lana
It's the same as people who put up crosses where people have died in car accidents.

SEPERATION OF CHURCH AND STATE!!!!!!!!! SEPERATION OF CHURCH AND STATE!!!!!!!!! THOSE ROADS ARE OWNED BY THE GOVERNMENT THEREFORE THEY SHOULDNT BE ALLOWED TO PUT CROSSES UP!!!!!!!!!

Joking of course but you get my point. 😮

On topic now; I think those people are being idiots. That guy has a right to do what he wants and in fact I admire what he is doing. It's good to honor the troops.