Boy's Pirate Flag Banned By English District Council

Anthony Steele loves to play pirates in his backyard, but the black flag aboard his "ship" is stirring up trouble with an English town's district council.

Officials from the East Lindsey District Council urged the 7-year-old's family to take down the flag, citing that it "breaches advertising regulations," the Lincolnshire reports.

But mother Sara Steele says her son, who has Asperger's syndrome and enjoys playing pirates, doesn't understand why the flag is under fire.

"He keeps asking me why we have to take it down, and I don't even understand why myself," Metro reports.

The Sun obtained a copy of the letter sent to Steele and her partner Ronnie Ford-Kennedy. The notice contains the following warning:

"I would inform you that it is an offence, prosecutable in the Magistrates' Court, to display an advert without consent to do so from the Council."

The skull and crossbones flag is currently hanging from a fishing pole, but the family says another flag flew in its place for three years and didn't cause any trouble.

The family raised the issue with a council representative, who said the district permits flags of any nationality, but that the Jolly Roger wasn't allowed, according to the Lincolnshire.

Steele said she planned on replacing the flag, but said she was still concerned her son's feelings.

"If it just affected me I would not be bothered but this is going to affect a little boy," she told the news organization.

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Comments

[condoblues]

12:18 PM on 03/03/2012

What if the little boy played privateer instead and gave the Queen a cut? It worked for Sir Francis Drake.

[b4pangea]

10:28 AM on 03/03/2012

Some adults are way too uptight.

[mburgh]

07:23 PM on 03/02/2012

Considering the rich history of English pirates, the council is acting foolishly. This is a national heritage flag. Just ask China, India, Africa, the West Indies and South America.

[harleydavid105]

01:18 PM on 03/02/2012

Looks like the District Counsel has *ssholes syndrome.

[denisedts]

12:54 PM on 03/02/2012

All this little boy wants to do is have fun and play pirates....what is so wrong with that?? Let this little boy have his fun. He in his mind isn't advertising anything, he is just "having fun."

[harleydavid105]

01:17 PM on 03/02/2012

I don't see that you're an idiot, but clearly you are. Or perhaps you don't exist.

[portugee565]

12:48 PM on 03/02/2012

This "Flag thing" must be all over the world Huh?

[ngray46]

12:46 PM on 03/02/2012

Are people actually reading this article? It clearly states this is an English town and that the flag is supposedly violating a no advertising regulation. BUT flags of other nationalities can be flown and are apparently not considered advertising for the country. Just what product or company is the Jully Roger representing as an advertisement? When did the Jolly Roger become a copywrited logo?

[Mack Royal]

09:45 AM on 03/25/2013

I have read that the skull and crossbones originated as the company logo of the Russell Trust, North American slave, rum and opium traders whose money founded the Ivy League schools.

[ngray46]

11:38 AM on 03/25/2013

The Skull and Bones was a senior secret "club" at Yale University and they adopted the skull and crossbones image for their "logo." The skull and crossbones was used long before this "franternity" at Yale. The earliest use I can find was to mark burials grounds. During the Middle Ages, the Knights Templar adopted the image for tunics used in battle against Muslims. It is the symbol used for death and so was the flag of pirates on the seas. This article is about a child playing. We overreact to so much anymore.

[harleydavid105]

12:37 PM on 03/02/2012

What does Johnny Depp (Capt. Jack Sparrow) have to say about this?

[mds308]

12:36 PM on 03/02/2012

We have a REAL pirate problem. The sailors who are on these attacked ships aren't allowed to have any weapons to defend themselves. Britians answer is to take a small childs Jolly Roger flag. Maybe we should replace it with a Hitler Youth flag. That should ease tensions.

[harleydavid105]

12:34 PM on 03/02/2012

I thought this was a free country. I think they have a chink in their regulations.

[hman570]

12:24 PM on 03/02/2012

How silly can they get

[PPPELOSI]

12:01 PM on 03/02/2012

Meanwhile, one of the town's school teachers is seducing three adolescents in the school, the cricket coach is molesting some teenagers, and there is a serial killer at loose - but by George...we're going to let this boy know that the law is the law!

[teardowneaston]

11:58 AM on 03/02/2012

in the future all countries will have the same flag, all people will be required to have the same clothes, cars, homes and personalities that way no one can be offended by or in violation of any laws.
*keep trolling, you get no response*

[ms04121966]

12:25 PM on 03/02/2012

I wonder how the new world government will make everyone's skin color and facial features identical.

[tmduke55221]

01:06 PM on 03/02/2012

they will introduce it a couples ways through genetics first, maybe slip something into the food supple that everyone eats, then they will encourage interracial marriage and then if people are still not matching up to their expectations they will take the nonconformist out to a camp somewhere. Or at least that's what happened when I had some bad steak the other night.

[portugee565]

12:52 PM on 03/02/2012

I don't want to play in your Time Machine!

[algonquin j calhoun]

11:47 AM on 03/02/2012

probably in violation of a law against piracy dating back to 1680...