Profane anti-Biden sign in Allegheny Township is 'over the line,' supervisor says

Allegheny Township Supervisor Mike Korns said he avoids driving along a section of the township’s Markle Road when his grandchildren are with him because a resident there has placed vulgar flags in his front yard.

One of the anti-President Biden flags contains obscenities.

“I strongly support free speech, but that’s over the line,” said Korns, who raised the issue at a supervisors meeting this week.

Korns said a township code enforcement officer fielded the first complaint about the obscenity-laced flags last month.

On Tuesday morning, a Tribune-Review reporter went to the residence where the flags had been displayed, but a man who was outside the residence burning trash declined to comment.

Moments later, the man took down one of the flags and laid it on the ground.

Township officials said the flags are permitted under freedom-of-speech protections, and there’s nothing they can do.

Still, Korns is opposed to a flag bearing an obscenity.

“This has nothing to do with politics,” Korns said, “It’s the nature of the profane word.”

He noted the Markle Volunteer Fire Department is next door to the property with the flags, and it hosts numerous social events. Guests can view the flags from the fire hall parking lot.

A representative for the fire department was not immediately available for comment.

In a statement, Township Manager Greg Primm said there’s little that can be done.

“It has always been my understanding that citizens have a right to their free speech,” Primm wrote.

“Having said that, as private individuals we are all raised in homes and instilled with a value system handed down by our parents or guardians. That value system is a sliding scale, and each citizen falls on that scale,” he said. “No matter where one might fall on that scale, the township would hope that when exercising your free speech guaranteed by the Constitution, people would do so with their neighbors and public in mind as a matter of courtesy and decency.”