By N. LA VEIIL CHRISIENSEN Srrfonrlns-=Nmnaw= Oneofourstrerngthsasanationlstlie rightotdiaseiit-butstirelytheliillot Rights never was intended to protect those who would contemptuously w or set tire to the American Faitbln tbesupreme Coon to interpret therlghtottliisootmtrytoprotectits sacred symbols was bolstered by the high nourt’s declslon leaving intact the convictim of two avowed Communiss for burning a U.S. flag. Ryo!-lvote,tttejuIt1cdrdusedt0 bear arguments that the oonvictions violated tree – speech rights. The defendants – a man md a woman – wan ocaivicted and sentenced to eight months ii jail for baming a flag during a tinurlni-ation in North Carolina two rsago. Tbeyarguedtheburning was ago:-m of political protest protected by The two were prosecuted under a federal law imposing penalltles on anyone who “knowiogly mts contempt uponanyflagottheUnitedStatuby publicly mutilating, defacing, deiling. burning ur trampling upon lt” The lone supreme Court dissenter was Justice William J. Brerman who called the majority nrling pure and simple.” It ls dltilcult to harmonize Br-ennan’s view with the rspmssllilities that go with treedomand justice. esoeclallywhenyou remember that countless loyal Americans in many generations have died on battlefields for tt: prlndples represented by theflag. Indeed it’s disturbing to lmadise the floodgates of insult and desecration of Amerloan symbols that might have opmedhnlt.’hecoun’sma)oritynrztrnled as it dtd. The inooogruity of any eondonlng of flag – burning as proper dissent was dramatically demonstrated in the Vietnam War. While pan-iotic American POWs in desperate circumstances improvised tlags from meager scraps of cloth and pledged allegiance to than. some young people back home were debasing the rlyrt of tree speech by burning the natim’s emblem. Glimyues of the Dag motivated Francis Scott Key to write our national anthem, spurred Gls to victory at lwo Jima, and inspired poet John Greenleaf Whittier to write: “Snoot, if you must. this old gray head. but spare your country’s tlag.” Tn reiterate, legitimate dissent is a right established by the Founding Father and must remain invlolate. But this newspaper believu the first Ammdment never was intended to sanction detiling or desecratlnlt of the American flag, symbol of our national heritage and embodiment of principl we hold dear. It is reassuring that the Supreme Court has reinforced this concept.