California officials have praised Camping World for raising a towering U.S. flag at French Camp after tensions flared over a permitting issue, calling the public confrontation “great marketing” and encouraging counties to memorialize prisoners of war and Americans missing in action.
“We welcome their business and their flag,” San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors member Tom Patty told Fox News Digital. “From the beginning, our preference was to follow the traditional process of getting a permit.”
After more than a year of wrangling over permitting requirements, he said, the county received the paperwork from Camping World and approved the company’s plans. The flag is already flying again over the sprawling site.
RV retailer Camping World defies California order to remove giant American flag
After a standoff with local officials over permit rules, a giant American flag is flying atop a 130-foot-tall flagpole outside the Camping World store in French Camp, California. Joaquin County officials gave Camping World permission to erect the pole on Thursday.
“They go ahead and put a big flagpole in the ground but don’t ask for prior permission under any circumstances,” he said.If that matters, the company will end up gaining massive public support and potential new customers.
Patty, a former boxer for Mike Tyson, said many of his constituents, especially military veterans, have approached him about protecting the flag. He also supports the flag and has separately lobbied the county to fly the POW/MIA flag next to the American flag over the county courthouse to mark Flag Day.
“I can’t help but think that either this was a great marketing opportunity or they didn’t do the research that a permit would be needed,” Patty said. “Once we got the information we requested, we issued the permit and that was the deal.”
A Google Maps image from December 2023 shows a 130-foot-tall flagpole on Camping World property in French Camp, California, without an accompanying U.S. flag. (Google)
Mr. Patty, who previously worked installing large commercial signs, said he doubted Camping World, which has similar large flags flying at many of its 250 stores nationwide, would risk installing a dangerous base.
“I have no confidence that Camping World is not going to pursue litigation in the future,” he said. “We take them at their word.”
The county’s zoning rules were meant to address concerns about the depth and width of the poles’ underground foundations to ensure they wouldn’t be a risk of falling over, he said. The county requested a site plan in June 2023 and received it about a year later, he said. The numbers looked reasonable, and the state granted the go-ahead this week.
Camping World CEO: “I’d rather go to jail” than cave in to city in American flag dispute
After a standoff with local officials over permit rules, a giant American flag is flying atop a 130-foot-tall flagpole outside the Camping World store in French Camp, California. Joaquin County officials gave Camping World permission to erect the pole on Thursday.
The county requires a permit for any structure over 30 feet tall, and Camping World’s flagpole reached 130 feet into the air.
San Joaquin city officials have denied allegations that they have ordered retailers to take down the flags or fined them.
The county requested site plans and blueprints in June 2023, after the flags would be raised before retailers could get permits, according to county officials. Partial plans were handed over in December, with full documents due in June 2024.
After a standoff with local officials over permit rules, a giant American flag is flying atop a 130-foot-tall flagpole outside the Camping World store in French Camp, California. Joaquin County officials gave Camping World permission to erect the pole on Thursday.
The county said in a statement that some county employees have been harassed and threatened over the confrontation and asked employees to show “common courtesy and civility.”
“We appreciate your patriotism. We fully support flying the flag and welcome local businesses, especially those that share our patriotism,” the county wrote in a letter to concerned residents, “but we must adhere to permitting procedures to ensure safety and appropriate access for all.”
“We’re not going to let it go,” Camping World Holdings Inc. Chairman and CEO Marcus Lemonis said in an interview on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, Oct. 7, 2016. Lemonis has long defended the giant American flags that fly in Camping World parking lots, sometimes in defiance of local ordinances. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis raised the flag on Monday, just days before the permit was granted.
Lemonis, who immigrated to the United States from Lebanon, is a staunch defender of the flag and has been embroiled in similar confrontations with local authorities around the country. He told Fox News in 2019 that he would rather be jailed than curtail patriotic acts.
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“When I see veterans coming into the store for the flag raising ceremony, participating in the veterans ride on Saturday and crying under the flag stand, I know I’m never going to get taken down. I’d rather go to prison,” he said.
Lemonis could not immediately be reached for comment about the French Camp permit.
Fox News’ Christine Parks contributed to this report.
