Last November, former President Donald Trump won Walton County, Florida, by a margin of more than 3-1.
Yet that doesn’t mean officials in the Panhandle community are amused by the antics of some Trump supporters.
County officials have slapped Marv and Paige Peavy with a code violation for hanging massive pro-Trump banners from their palatial home.
An administrative magistrate upheld the decision last week and ordered the Peavys to pay $1,269 in fines, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News.
But now other Trumpsters are rallying to their defense, and the case seems headed for a courtroom.
The controversy began in January, the Daily News reported.
The Peavy’s live in a four-story, 6,770-square foot home that fronts County Road 30A. Back in January they hung a Trump 2020 banner from their top-floor balcony.
A code officer made an issue of it, saying it violated the county sign ordinance.
The Peavy’s took it down after President Joe Biden was inaugurated. But in March, Marv Peavy replaced it with one that declared “Trump Won,” which, according to the Daily News, Trump supporters saw as a “symbol of hope.”
Code officials returned in June and told Peavy to remove that one.
The Peavy’s not only defied that directive, they eventually added one that proclaimed, “Let’s go Brandon.”
The case went before the magistrate last month. He sided with the county, saying it violated regulations for scenic roads, and ordered a fine of $50 a day for each day the banners hung in violation of the local law.
The Peavy’s were not persuaded.
“Fifty dollars a day ain’t a damn thing to me,” Peavy said in October. “I’m not going to take it down.”
As the fines accrued, the case now appears headed for circuit court, as the Peavys announced an appeal.
The Peavys’ lawyer said the ordinance was unconstitutional, and that his clients are now making a First Amendment case.
“The support here, really from all over the country, has been just unreal,” Paige Peavy told the Daily News. “It’s freedom of speech, that’s what we’re fighting for.”
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Damn straight Skippy!