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Local officials
said the flag violates an ordinance prohibiting the display of
political signs more than 30 days ahead of an election and
issued him a summons. New Jersey's primary is on June 7.
For weeks, Hornick has displayed the blue flag with Trump's
"Make America Great Again!" campaign slogan on a pole outside
his two-story West Long Branch house, at a busy intersection
near Monmouth University, in a show of his support for Trump.
Trump has been campaigning this week in neighboring New York in
an effort to snag the Republican presidential nomination.
Despite being issued a summons on March 25 for the violation,
Hornick apparently intends to keep it up.
"The fine can be in the Millions of dollars! That flag will
never come down!" he wrote in a defiant Facebook post.
Hornick did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lori Cole, West Long Branch's clerk, said on Friday that
Hornick, 54, could also face 90 days in jail as a maximum
penalty if a judge determines he is in violation of the law.
"It just came up recently," she said of the controversy.
Brian Hegarty, a former Democratic Party councilman, complained
to authorities about Hornick's flag, according to a March 25
police report.
Hegarty told police that he had complained several times about
the flag to a code enforcement official, but no action was
taken. Sergeant James Gomez in the report said Hornick initially
agreed to take down the flag before speaking with his attorney.
"He advised on the advice of an attorney he would not be
removing the flag and would fight any summons issued to him,"
Gomez wrote.
Hornick is scheduled to appear in court on April 20.
(Reporting by Marcus E. Howard; Editing by Bernard Orr)
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