Flag flown upside down

DECATUR, Ind. (WANE) - A Decatur business owner's sparking a lot of controversy.  In protest of Barack Obama being elected president, he's flying the American flag upside down.

Greg Townsend owns Townsend's Tire Service.  He says he flipped the flag outside his store as soon as he learned Obama had won the election.

"She's flying up there 35 feet in the air upside down and  she'll remain that way. It will remain that way as long as that man holds that title," exclaims Townsend.

He's a military man who knows the flag code well. He says an upside down flag usually represents distress. "The flag should not ever be displayed with the union down except as a signal of distress, an in instances of extreme danger to life or property," he says.

"I care about my children and grandchildren," Townsend told NewsChannel 15, "and we just elected a marxist socialist to the President of the United States!"

Employee Tonya Miller isn't bothered by the silent protest. "I think it makes a statement and I wish more people would have before Tuesday because now I feel we'll probably have him for eight years."

Still, it's caused a few complaints from customers and stirred up controversy in the small town.

"It's putting it over the edge. It's pretty apparent he's unhappy with what happened but it's already done, you can't change it," says Decatur resident Tiffany Morgan.

And after 17 years of  working at Townsend's, it's caused David Ray to quit. He says he doesn't want Townsend's actions to be mistaken for his own.

"I've got to sleep with myself at night and I've got kids that look up to me, I've got to be their example. "I don't think that it's right that if you don't agree that you desecrate the flag," Ray says.

As for Townsend, he says he's not concerned about how the flag could  affect his business. He plans to keep flying it upside down as long as Barack Obama is in office.