Suburban VFW Given OK To Fly Flag

GLENDALE HEIGHTS, Ill. (CBS) -- As Newsradio first reported last week, members of the VFW Post in Glendale Heights were gearing up for a fight after getting a letter from their landlord that said flags were prohibited.

Now the principal of Midland Realty and Development, the landlord, tells Newsradio the VFW may continue to fly the American flag.

"Their POW flag, I'm not sure where it is. If they discuss that with us, we see no problem with that," says Midland Realty's principal Charles Hold.

"The stock language that was referenced in the letter (to the VFW) referenced flags that you may see flying at a used car lot," says Hold.

Hold says Midland is "renovating the property to be a good citizen," and he says the flagpole may have to be relocated.

"If the flagpole has to be moved, it will be at our expense," Hold says.

He says the Midland employee who sent the letter has been reprimanded because the letter contained language that said simply, "Flags are prohibited."

Hold says Midland had contacted the VFW to because there were beer bottles by the doors and people loitering on the property.

"That's all we wanted out of them, to go along, to be a good citizen," says Hold. "We're renovating the property."

"We are spending in excess of a million dollars to make a nicer property for them. And I would've thought they would be happy with that and if they had a complaint, they would've contacted that rather than using the media in the fashion that they have," says Hold.

Newsradio is trying to reach the VFW commander for reaction.