Oh Say Can You Hear Dealer's Noisy Flag?

A Las Vegas auto dealer vows to fight a city order to take down a 109-foot pole from which he flies an American flag about the size of a competition volleyball court.

The City Council ordered Towbin Hummer to lose the flag. City officials say the pole is too high and neighbors complain the flag flaps too loudly.

“The American flag stays,“ dealership owner Dan Towbin tells the Associated Press. “I'm not convinced that people are complaining because of noise. This is about vindictiveness and power.“

Towbin says the 30-foot-by-60-foot flag fits with his oversized dealership selling oversized vehicles, but rejects opponents' claims that it's really just advertising.

“All I can tell you is we never sold a vehicle based on a flag,“ says Towbin, whose son Josh Towbin hosts a popular cable TV show called “King of Cars.”

City regulations limit poles to 40 feet, but the council grants case-by-case exceptions. Towbin got permission for a 100-foot pole in 2006, and the city has approved eight other flagpoles of that height or higher.

Assistant City Attorney Bill Henry says the city can rescind the waivers for various reasons. Those include complaining neighbors.

“If I was convinced I was truly disturbing people, I would have taken it down a long time ago,“ Towbin says.