The Borough of Catasauqua, on holidays or other special events, flies various flags to festoon Race Street and other thoroughfares in town. With Independence Day and Old Home Week as highlighted events earleir this month, flags and were flying everywhere.

The borough chose to celebrate this July 4 by flying the black and white POW - MIA flags to honor military personnel who still have not returned from battle.

However, in front of Coupe & Son's auto repair shop at 324 Race St., there flew a Gadsden Flag, which in modern times has been adopted by the conservative TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party.

Robert Zakos, a Catasauqua resident, complained to the borough and to The Press about flying a TEA Party flag on a steetside utulity pole during the Independence Day celebration. He wanted an explanation about why a flag adopted by a political movement was allowed.

Repair shop owner Tip Coupe has no problem with it, however.

"That flag has flown here for three years now," Coupe said. "It has a unique history."

Catasauqua Borough Executive Eugene Goldfeder explained the borough's choice of the Gasdsen Flag.

"The Gadsden is one of many flags from the Revolutionary War era," he said. "We just put them up as part of our Independence Day decorations. The owner of the building did not ask for the flag."

Goldfeder said he did not know the flag had been adopted as a symbol of the TEA Party

The flag was designed by Continental Army Colonel Christopher Gadsden and was used as the flag for the first seven ships of the new navy. It shows a coiled snake on a yellow background with the words DON'T TREAD ON ME along the bottom. The coiled snake is sometimes shown in eight segments to represent the original 13 colonies. The head was depicted as New England and South Carolina was the tail segment.

Colonel Gadsden got the idea for his flag from comments made by Benjamin Franklin. Before the American Revolution, the British sent their worst and most dangerous criminals to the American Colonies. Franklin suggested that the Colonials return the favor by sending Timber Rattlers back to the British.

The Gadsden Flag still holds a position of honor in the US Navy. The oldest ship in the fleet still on active duty flies this flag at its bow.

According to Robert Dupree, a former employee at First Energy, all utility poles are owned by a utility. Attachments by a cable company or telephone company to a utility pole are made by lease agreements, a task Dupree managed during his stint with First Energy. Some poles are owned by the telephone company and some by the electric utility.

In addition to the leases with other utilities, most municipalities have the option to lease space on a pole for decorative or display purposes. What is displayed by the municipality is under the control of the municipality. Political signs, yard sale signs, "I buy houses," and lost dog signs are generally not permitted on poles, although they still appear.

The TEA Party has adopted the Gadsden Flag as one of its symbols. It is a grassroots organization dedicated to limiting the size of government and is opposed to interference from governmental bureaucracy. They adopted the Gadsden Flag because the principals that the TEA Party stands for, according to its members, are the same as those of the Colonials. The TEA Party is not a political party; it has no organizational leader. Members endorse candidates who are conservative and opposed to governmental bureaucracy and interference.

"I like having the Gadsden Flag outside the building and I'm not a TEA Party member," Coupe said. "It has such a great history. If someone wants to stop displaying it, I'll get it painted on the building and they can look at it every day and find out the history."