Man Who Fought For Flag Defeated

CARY, N.C. (AP) â€” It's a white flag of sorts from Al Martin. <br><br>The homeowner who fought his subdivision over restrictions on showing the Stars and Stripes has voluntarily taken down the banner,

Thursday, July 13th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

CARY, N.C. (AP) â€” It's a white flag of sorts from Al Martin.

The homeowner who fought his subdivision over restrictions on showing the Stars and Stripes has voluntarily taken down the banner, prominently displayed from his front porch.

Martin got nationwide attention when he moved the flag from the back of his house after neighbors complained the banner was violating his subdivision's restrictive covenants. He kept the flag out front for Memorial Day and Independence Day.

``It's one thing to do it just to spit in (the neighbors') faces, but it's another just to be patriotic and fly it through the holiday,'' he said Wednesday. ``It was never my intention to spit in their faces.''

Martin earlier had vowed to leave the flag up until December, when he and his wife plan to move from the subdivision patterned on Colonial Williamsburg, or until slapped with a court order.

The uproar, he said, proved at least one thing: ``That patriotism isn't dead yet in the United States, that people will still rally around the flag.''