COLUMBUS, Ohio – In all of her 87 years, Julia Lease had certainly never received a standing ovation.
READ MORE: In the Columbus Dispatch
Yet there she was, standing inside a hearing room testifying before a committee at the Ohio Statehouse – a building that she had never stepped inside before Tuesday – as state legislators and strangers alike applauded and praised her.
“Never, ever in my wildest imagination would I have pictured that,” she said.
So what had she said that was so important, so rousing, that it got everyone fired up?
“I told them that I was a deputy sheriff for 25 years and that even though we weren’t military, we had allegiance to the United States flag just like everyone in this country should,” Lease said. “And I told them we have to all honor the flag and everything it stands for. That was it, really.”
But that wasn’t it.
Lease made the news last fall after officials with New Life Multi-Family Management told her to take down the flag that hung on the porch of her Whitehall apartment, a place she’s called home since 1977.
But she wouldn’t be bullied. She went public with the management company’s notice, and supporters from far and wide rallied around her. Eventually, management relented; her flag still flies.
Lease was one of three people who testified before the House Armed Services, Veterans Affairs and Public Safety Committee on behalf of a proposed bill sponsored by Rep. Anne Gonzales R-Westerville) and Rep. Timothy E. Ginter (R-Columbiana County). The bill would prevent landlords and homeowner associations from restricting the display of the Ohio flag, the American flag and military service banners.