From the Rose Law Group Growlery
By Phil Riske | Senior Reporter/Writer
Arizona Independent Media [ADI], a Tucson-based Website that does not reveal who’s behind it, called out a former colleague of mine Sunday for a story he wrote about an Arizona bill (SB1009) that would make it a Class 6 felony to steal an American flag on display by a resident or business and calls for a year in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000 for offenders of the law.
Capitol Media Services owner Howard “Howie” Fischer, considered to be the dean of the Arizona press corps at the Capitol, noted in his story Sen. Bob Worsley, R-Mesa, said the bill’s language means someone could face prison time for taking a tiny flag stuck into a cupcake with a toothpick.
In its mock photo display (shown above), ADI presumes Howie was worried about flags on a cupcake, when in fact it was Worsley. Some journalists would have omitted the Worsley comment, considering it a little silly, but not Howie.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, agreed the language could be interpreted to include someone who plucks a miniature flag from a cupcake, but pushed that aside with, “I don’t know that any police officer would even be involved in arresting somebody that did something so inconsequential.
I’m thinking Howie thought the cupcake angle was important because his experience in reporting on hundreds of bills has planted this little flag on his desk that reads, “UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES!”
Remember the alt-fuels debacle?
ADI needs to fly a white flag of surrender and apologize for its “stupid” posting.
