Residents banned from flying U.S. flags

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WRENTHAM, Mass., July 12 (UPI) -- Residents of a Massachusetts public housing complex said officials have notified them of a new policy banning U.S. flags in common areas.

Wrentham residents in the Garden Lane complex, operated by the Wrentham Housing Authority, said they received letters taped to their doors Wednesday informing them that flag displays would no longer be allowed, despite the doors in the complex having flag-holding hardware installed, The Sun Chronicle, Attleboro, Mass., reported Thursday.

"(The) Wrentham Housing Authority has been informed that the public display of the American flag in common areas is not permitted," the letter reads.

The letter said there were multiple complaints to the state Department of Housing and Community Development from a tenant around the Fourth of July holiday.

"Flags may be visible through the apartment windows, but may not be displayed on the exterior of the buildings or on the ground around the buildings," the housing authority wrote.

Resident Barbara Marshall, 82, called the policy "unbelievable."

"I've always had a flag," she said. "I'm very upset."

Marshall said she is going to contact U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., who is a Wrentham native, to see if he can help change the policy.