HOPEWELL, Va. -- Someone threw a 15 to 20 pound driveway stone through the front window of a Hopewell home that displayed the Confederate flag, homeowner Joe Quick said. Quick said he reported the incident to police.
Quick said he first displayed the flag in his window last month as a sign of support for the history the flag represented. He said for him, the flag was about heritage, not hate.
"If you got a problem, you come and talk to me. Don't destroy my property. You work too hard in life to pay for these things. I'm a hard working man. I'm not a millionaire," Quick said. "Your beliefs are your beliefs and my beliefs are my beliefs."
Joe Quick said someone threw a brick through a front window at his Hopewell home. (PHOTO: Jake Burns)
Quick said he knew posting the flag might concern some of his neighbors on Broadway Avenue. That is why, he said. he spoke with neighbors about hanging it up before doing so.
Neighbor Shannon Taylor said she had no problem with the Confederate flag on display next door. (PHOTO: Jake Burns)
"We were fine with the flag up. My husband is black and the only reason he was flying it was out of heritage," neighbor Shannon Taylor said. "We did not see it as any problem at all."
Taylor called Quick a nice guy who would give someone the shirt off his back.
"I hope [the vandal] gets caught and I hope they get an education too. It shows ignorance throwing a brick through a window because of a flag," Taylor said.
Hopewell Police have not returned phone calls to confirm whether or not they were investigating the incident. Quick said the vandalism happened at about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. The number for Hopewell Crime Solvers is 804-541-2202.
