Store owner allowed to keep painted flag

NORTH PALM BEACH, Fla., Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Officials in a Florida town voted to allow a shopkeeper to keep the big U.S. flag she painted on the outside wall of her consignment store.

Elena Johnson told the North Palm Beach Code Enforcement Board she painted the 13-foot by 40-foot flag on the outside wall of True Treasures to draw people to her business after the village denied her permission to paint stripes on the building, The Palm Beach Post reported Tuesday.

Johnson said the flag served dual purposes of drawing attention to her business and expressing her patriotism.

"I'm very proud of the flag. It represents liberty and entrepreneurship," said the 80-year-old businesswoman who emigrated to America from Italy 53 years ago.

However, Christopher Ryder, vice chairman of the board and the lone dissenter in the 6-1 vote, said the flag is purely an advertising measure.

"(Mrs. Johnson) is disguising advertising in the American flag," Ryder said.