The Virginian-Pilot 
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, September 23, 1994             TAG: 9409220171
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON    PAGE: 04   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   45 lines

FLAG-BURNING A VOLATILE ISSUE, COUNCIL FINDS SUPPORT FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT NARROWLY PASSES.

The usual squabbles over land use, tax dollars and civic virtues gave way to deeper held beliefs Tuesday as the City Council debated whether to approve a resolution condemning the burning of the American flag.

Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said she is too patriotic to condone flag-burning; Councilman John D. Moss said he is too patriotic to condemn it.

The issue came before the council at the request of the Citizens Flag Alliance of Virginia, an American Legion-affiliated group that is trying to convince the Congress to amend the U.S. Constitution to prohibit flag-burning. The U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1990 that flag-burning is protected by the Constitution.

The measure passed the council by a margin of 6 to 5. Oberndorf, John A. Baum, Linwood O. Branch III, Louis R. Jones, Louisa M. Strayhorn and W.D. ``Will'' Sessoms Jr. supported the resolution. Moss, Robert K. Dean, W.W. ``Bill'' Harrison Jr., Barbara M. Henley and Nancy K. Parker voted against it.

The council members who favored the proposal let the mayor be their spokeswoman. Dean and Parker also spoke against it, citing their credentials as patriots before explaining how they had come to their positions.

All of the council members seemed conscious, if not concerned, that their views might someday become an election issue.

Oberndorf credited her opinion to her immigrant grandparents whose move to this country may have saved her from becoming a victim of the Nazis during World War II.

Moss, who works for the Department of Defense, quoted the Supreme Court decision on the issue and a speech by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., in expressing his view that First Amendment protections are paramount and that the Constitution should not be changed to suit majority public opinion.

Dean compared the flag to his Bible, saying that if his Bible were burned, he would still carry its spiritual message with him. ``I don't have to have the symbols,'' he said. by CNB