Woman faces eviction for hanging American flags

(NBC) - A 75-year-old New Jersey woman faces the possibility of eviction for hanging three American flags from her balcony.

While there's a large flag outside the government-run senior housing complex where Dawn Paulus lives, the three little ones hanging from her sixth-floor balcony have stirred a huge controversy.

The Housing Authority ordered Paulus to take down the flags she attached to her balcony in early May, or face eviction.

That was two weeks ago, and the flags are still there.

"I understand that's their rules, but I'm still sticking to my constitutional rights," Paulus said.

Paul Rummerfield, executive director of the Phillipsburg Housing Authority, said he knows his stance is unpopular.

"They say I should be shipped off to the Russian Gulag, that I'm anti-American," he said.

But he said it's not about patriotism - it's about safety.

"Let's just say you let somebody have a flag, and somebody puts a hanging basket up there that's filled with dirt that may weigh five to ten pounds and comes crashing down on someone,” he explained. “It has a potential to hurt, then it's we didn't do enough to protect people."

Paulus said she wants a legal opinion before she takes down her flags, but “if the law says I have to, I will."

She added that you can’t put a price tag on freedom.

"Our veterans gave their lives for us, and this is why it's supposed to be freedom,” she said. “But…I don't know if this is freedom if I can't fly my flag."