A Las Vegas HUMMER dealer, Dan Towbin of Towbin HUMMER, has been ordered to take down a 30' x 60' American flag he's flown 100 feet above his dealership for a year because his neighbors have complained about the sound of the flag flapping and the obtrusiveness of its looming pole.
While Towbin claims the the flag is an expression of his patriotism, the dealer's neighbors and other concerned citizens in Las Vegas assert that his intentions are mostly commercial, accusing Towbin of exploiting veterans for his own financial gain. One point of controversy is a war memorial Towbin planned to build at the base of the pole. Towbin, who is an honorary commander at Nellis Air Force Base, said he has not built the memorial because the flag was only approved tentatively pending a six-month review. The six months came and went without the city following up on the matter.
Whatever the circumstances, an interesting component of the battle over the flag is the fact that both sides claim the other is anti-American -- critics of those who wish that the flag be removed say that taking down a flag is unpatriotic, while others say keeping the flag up allows Towbin to commercialize a patriotic symbol. Only Towbin knows for sure his intentions, of course.
Factoid: Dan Towbin is owner of Towbin Auto Group, and his son is Josh Towbin, a.k.a. Chopper from King of Cars.
[Source: Las Vegas Review Journal]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
David @ May 21st 2007 8:39AM
Patriotism is flying the flag; commercialism is flying a 30 x 60 foot flag on a ten-story pole so that everybody knows where your dealership is.
Yago bal @ May 21st 2007 8:45AM
...and one can be patriotic without feeling the need to rub it on everybody's face. I might say it's even a question of good taste.
Gardiner Westbound @ May 21st 2007 8:53AM
Declaring yourself the "King of Cars" is easier if daddy gives you an automobile dealership to play with.
C E W @ May 21st 2007 8:56AM
Same thing happened here in Ohio - Only it was a zoning ordinance thing. Nevertheless The AMERICAN FLAG should Dominate all laws!!
Yago bal @ May 21st 2007 9:00AM
#4 It's a piece of fabric: it takes more than a cloth symbol to make a patriot. I think most americans are living a very superficial feaver: to put a flag up and carry on neverminding about everything.
G Money @ May 21st 2007 9:11AM
"1st in the nation and its not no mirage baby"
Chop is a fraud. LOL, i do watch the show though.
Josiah @ May 21st 2007 9:13AM
"We got the low prices, cuz I chop ‘em chop ‘em"
I love that little diddy, the show however is a little boring/formulaic after 5 or 6 episodes.
Chop is the man though, and runs one hell of a dealership.
George Krpan @ May 21st 2007 9:16AM
I read the headline and my first thought was that they were making him take down the flag because selling gas guzzlers is not patriotic.
John P. @ May 21st 2007 9:20AM
Yago,
First you said don't rub it in everyone's face, then you said it's just a piece of cloth, make up your mind.
Now Americans are living in a Superficial "feaver", funny how you're wrong everytime you type something.
I don't see the big deal in a guy flying a flag over his business. It is "HIS" business.
JJ @ May 21st 2007 9:22AM
I have no problem with "Chop" the only problem i have is how, no matter what interview with him i read, he always talks about how he went from washing cars and selling bikes, to owning his own dealership... as if he was some kind of rags to riches story, i.e. the american dream, in his 20's and so forth...no one who interviews him ever seems to mention the fact that..maybe he got that way because his father owns the auto group?
A little hard to be a rags to riches story when you were born with a silver spoon is all i'm saying.
mk @ May 21st 2007 9:34AM
I don't care about the guy's dealership or TV show. couldn't care less.\
I can see how a giant flag could be construed as a marketing ploy, but who's to say for sure that his patriotism isn't genuine? Isn't the US a capitalist country, anyway? why not fly a flag at a place of business.
If this guy's patriotism isn't genuine, and only a "angle", then I am sorry for him, and that reflects on him, and his business, in the minds of people. If I knew that, I wouldn't patronize that business. But, I also would not impinge his right to fly his flag.
If it is genuine, then good for him. I am sick of the self-recrimination in this country that seems to put a wet blanket over people who are genuinely proud of the USA, and being part of it, as if it is a bad thing to be proud of the country. A little more pride from those who complain about things like this would do good things for this country, I think.
But either way, flying the flag is a protected right of free expression, and can be interpreted as "political speech". If people can argue that BURNING it is an expression of disrespect that should be allowed, I don't want to hear a PEEP about limiting people's right to fly it with respect.
And I continually hear news storys of people at their business or private home, due to BS zoning or nuisance regulations, which have been twisted. Flying the national flag is not a zoning issue, or a nuisance in any case.
I don't care who this guy is. There is no reason that I can possibly think of to deny his right, or mine, to fly the flag of the United States of America within it's borders. If people don't want to fly flags themselves, fine. But interfering with others doing so is something else.
Flapping? give me a freakin' break. Deal with it. people work and live next to railroad tracks, or highways, or other loud things, and they cope. A flapping flag is hardly something to get upset about.
It's big. GOOD. Maybe it will remind people of what people, past and present, have fought and died to protect, and what shouldn't be undermined for convenience or truely petty politics.
quagmire @ May 21st 2007 9:46AM
I would hope it was genuine if he was going to build a war memorial next to it. It would be a new low of business if a person used names of people who fought and died for this country.
Big Mike Wood @ May 21st 2007 9:56AM
If he wants to be patriotic then fly a normal flag like everybody else. Why does it have to be 60 feet long and 10 stories high? I'd say he can fly as big of a flag as he wants until it starts causing problems, which this giant thing obviously has. He can be just as patriotic with a 3 foot flag.
joe @ Jun 3rd 2007 12:43AM
Mike it is great that you as an AMERICAN [if you really are would call the flag THIS GIANT THING] show how back ass ward you and anyone like you can be. Fool it is the symbal of our FREEDOM that many of us not only fought for ,but many havr died for!!!!!!!!! So tell the brave men and women in harms way that some idiot city council wants to vote to lower the flag to some height. wow what a group of ingrates! well someday i hope these idiots get real jobs and get crapped on like they are trying to do to old glory. Who the f#@k cares how high or how big just SAVE TOWBINS FLAG.Got a great postcard on the corner of Sahara ave from some real patriots passing them out to send to lois tarkanian Got two 1 to mail to city council and one for my dashboard so people like you can see we really care about our flag.some of us don't care about you or Towbin just our FLAG so fool SAVETOWBINSFLAG and vote bet you nay sayers get blown out by real patriot voters last time i cheched yes was 26 to 1 were you the one?
bmoredlj @ May 21st 2007 9:58AM
There's a flag bigger n' that flying over Fort McHenry...which fought off the Brits trying to capture Baltimore in the War of 1812 and inspired our national anthem.
I like enormous flags, and if you're gonna have one flying over your home or business, what better place than VEGAS?
P to the C @ May 21st 2007 10:03AM
He puts on a great show but you have to wonder where he'd be today without daddy. My guess is just another wannabe 'gangsta' keeping it real as a 30 year old stereo installer at Circuit City.
shiznannigan @ May 21st 2007 10:06AM
"accusing Towbin of exploiting veterans for his own financial gain"
Funny, I could have sworn veterans were capable of thinking for themselves. I know I am. I've never seen a flag and had the uncontrollable urge to go to where it's flying and purchase what's there.
Darien Allen @ May 21st 2007 10:20AM
I was in Vegas for CES early this year and while in the hotel room one morning caught Chop's "show" OMG the missus and I were ROFL at it... just incredible.
If I lived locally I'd have to at least make a visit to his dealership when it came time to purchase a car just to check things out...
jw @ May 21st 2007 10:21AM
1ST IN THE NATION MY ASS...TOWBIN DODGE ISN'T IN THE TOP 50!! IT'S ALL A SHOW..THATS THE WAY CARS WERE SOLD 30 YEARS AGO AND WHY THERE SALES SUCK NOW!!!EVER HERE OF THE INTERNET GUYS...
Guenther @ May 21st 2007 10:22AM
Having a band playing "America, the beautiful" or our national anthem is patriotic too, but if you do it at 3am, it might be considered a nuisance. A flag like that does make a lot of racket, so the complaints are valid. then again, I don't know how close any residences are. My personal opinion of Chop, based solely on the show, is rather low. There are better ways to accomplish what he's claiming.