San Rafael residents called disrespectful for flying American flags

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (KGO) -- Several San Rafael residents got letters calling them disrespectful for flying the American flag outside their homes.

It's safe to say the letter backfired. Now, even more flags are out in support of those who were criticized.

"I couldn't believe it. I thought it was a goof or something. I thought someone was playing a practical joke," resident Dean Morris said. "People have fought and died for this flag."

Morris has been flying Old Glory outside his home on San Rafael's Riviera Drive more than 20 years, but somebody has a problem with that. An anonymous letter was sent to Morris and several of his neighbors.

The letter said in part, "Show some respect and fly your flag on important holidays instead of trying to make a moronic statement."

To sum it up, the profanity-laced letter accuses residents who display an American flag outside their homes of being confused Republicans who don't agree with the president.

Resident Chase Pennington also got one. He said, "It was definitely offensive. Just making all these accusations about what type of person I am, what type of person anybody who flies a flag is."

We don't know much about the sender, except the letters are postmarked out of San Francisco and on each envelope, ironically there's an American flag stamp.

Neighbors are just as puzzled. They call this a close-knit community and many of them like Craig McKinlay put out flags to show solidarity.

"We didn't want to be intimidated by that kind of behavior. In fact, we wanted to show a strong statement, send a statement," McKinlay said.

Even though Morris and Pennington think sending the note was a bizarre thing to do, they're flags are staying up.

"The flag stands for your freedom and they have the freedom to send that letter out," Pennington said.