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Man arrested after rant against Canadian flag

Tried to cut it down with pocketknife, deputies say.

Hernando Today photo by BOB EAST III

Administrative assistant Cindy Claytor says the Brookridge Country Club began flying a Canadian flag in March in honor of residents from Canada.

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By TONY HOLT

Hernando Today

Published: May 12, 2009

Updated: 05/13/2009 10:55 am

BROOKSVILLE - Cindy Claytor was used to hearing barbs and complaints about the Canadian flag flying at Brookridge Country Club.

On Monday, it escalated to something a bit more severe.

A Brookridge man was arrested and charged with criminal mischief and resisting arrest after he threatened a security man in front of a room full of people, cursed at club employees and cut the cord of the Canadian flag with his own pocketknife, deputies said.

Walter Fallica Jr., 62, said upon his release from jail Monday that he would return to do the act again, according to an arrest report.

As of Tuesday afternoon, he had not returned.

"I saw him walking and carrying a club with a nail in it," said Claytor, who described what happened the day before during her encounter with Fallica. "I said to him, 'You're not going to cut down our flags,' and he said, 'What are you going to do about it, [expletive]?' '"

At that time, he began cutting the cord to the Canadian flag, which has been flying next to the American flag on the premises since late March.

"Ten percent of the people here are Canadian," Claytor said. "They paid for it, and they put it up. We have a lot of Canadians who golf here. … He was definitely offended by it. You just couldn't talk to him about it. I tried to talk to him."

After Fallica cut the rope, he walked toward Weatherford Avenue, where he had argued with a resident about the flag during the weekend, deputies said.

Authorities located Fallica and arrested him.

Fallica, who could not be reached for comment, told deputies he would be willing to "die for this cause" and gave a written statement admitting what he had done and the reasons for doing it, according to the arrest report.

When he was told he would be arrested for destruction of property, Fallica became "enraged" and held his fist up in anger. Deputies said they took him to the ground before they could subdue him and handcuff him.

Earlier in the day, Fallica walked into a staff meeting at the Brookridge Country Club and disrupted it by yelling obscenities, witnesses said.

He yelled at the head of security for the club and said the flag would come down "even if he had to get Congress to take it down," deputies said.

Fallica then warned the captain of security he would spit in his face if he touched him. The man did not feel threatened by Fallica, which is why Fallica was not charged with aggravated assault, said Sgt. Jim Powers, a spokesman with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.

"If people did feel threatened, then he would've been charged," Powers said. "He had no fear over the incident, so that's why there were no charges of assault."

Claytor said the Canadian flag will remain where it has been since it was raised in late March.

Most of those who have complained wish for the American flag to be raised higher than its Canadian counterpart, Claytor said.

The U.S. Flag Code states the American flag does not have to fly above the flag of another country as long as there is peace between the nations, Claytor said.

"It's just a sign of respect to the other countries," she said. "We really had a terrible time with it when we first put it up."

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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