Lingamfelter joins flag flap

Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter is getting in on the fight over the flying of the American flag.

The Woodbridge Republican plans to submit a bill for next year's General Assembly session that would require homeowners associations to allow combat veterans decorated for valor to fly Old Glory in any manner permitted by federal law.

He was spurred on by the recent case of a Medal of Honor recipient outside Richmond.

Van T. Barfoot, like Lingamfelter a retired Army colonel, was recently told by his homeowners association that he couldn't display the flag on a vertical pole in front of his house in Henrico County.

A veteran of World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars, Barfoot balked -- and he's been backed by a lot of people, including members of both major political parties.

In fact, Lingamfelter joins a group of supporters that boasts the White House, Democrats including Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and both of Virginia's U.S. senators, and Rep. Eric Cantor, a Virginia congressman who's the second-ranking Republican in the House.

Lingamfelter spent nearly 30 years in the Army himself, so it's not a big surprise that he's taken up a military cause.

But the lawmaker said he's not introducing legislation simply for one man.

He's received no calls from the 90-year-old, whose surname is the "Barfoot" in the name of the Sitter & Barfoot Veterans Care Center, a state-run facility in Richmond.

"I'm not doing this for Mr. Barfoot," he said. "I'm doing this for every grunt who slogged through some rice paddy, or fought in some desert environment, who stuck his neck out there for his buddy and was decorated for valor."

Lingamfelter hasn't finalized the language of his bill, and he noted that he's open to broadening its scope to include more than just decorated veterans.

But, the legislator said, their rights need to be preserved at a minimum. He guessed that, if asked, 99 percent of Americans would say that Barfoot should be allowed to fly his flag.

Lingamfelter also said he's open to associations decreeing requirements for residents' flag display.

"Just don't tell them they can't do it," he said.

In terms of Barfoot's specific situation, Lingamfelter said it's possible that the association will allow the matter to quietly go away.

"But I'm not going to quietly go away," he added.

Similarly, he said that he has never faced a situation in which someone objected to his display of the red, white and blue.

But if it had happened?

"It would have only happened one time," Lingamfelter said.

Staff writer Jonathan Hunley can be reached at 703-369-5738.