Officials Say Donald Trump's Old Glory & Pole Too Big

[matcom]

<snip>

PALM BEACH — The new American flag rippling over the Mar-a-Lago Club is nearly as big as club owner Donald Trump's ego.

But that's 15 times larger than the town code allows.

"It's Donald Trump," said his butler, Tony Senecal. "He's really a red, white and blue American."

The flag erected Tuesday on the estate's south lawn is 15 feet by 25 feet - about the size of a non-Palm Beach backyard swimming pool - waving from an 80-foot tall pole.

"I must say I'm impressed with his patriotism, but it's a little bit out of scale with the neighborhood," Mayor Jack McDonald said.

The code allows a maximum 4-by-6-foot flag on a flagpole 42 feet high. Town zoning officials Wednesday asked Trump to remove it or conform to the law.

The real-estate mogul said he would send a representative to demonstrate the pole can withstand a Category 5 hurricane.

"I think you can see it halfway from Cuba," Senecal said.

Trump recently installed giant Stars and Stripes at his resorts around the country, including Trump International Golf Club in suburban West Palm Beach. He erected a flag without a permit at his golf club in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., riling the neighbors.

He didn't ask for a permit in Palm Beach either but sent a letter that arrived the day the flag was raised.

"Obviously, permits are not necessary to put up an American flag," the letter began.

It's hardly the first of Trump's act-first, negotiate-second spats with the town.

He paid a $15,000 fine this year for an Elton John AIDS-benefit concert that drew 200 more than the 700 people allowed on the 18-acre estate. In 2005, the town nixed plans for fireworks at his wedding.

In 2003, he installed the Trump coat-of-arms on Mar-a-Lago walls without approval. In 1999, the town halted taping of a home and garden television show because commercial filming is banned in residential areas.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbccentral/content/local_news/epaper/2006/10/06/s1b_flag_1006.html

note: official title of story might be a little different than mine :P

[matcom]

1. Ivana? You There?

[Deja Q]

2. Red white and blue American? Yeah, right.

Red as in a hotheaded egomaniac.

White as a surrendering cowardly fool who declares bankruptcy.

Blue is because everybody who knows what the dude about makes them sad to know that this worm remains famous and revered despite being a worm.