I would do the same thing!

A promise is a promise.

A California dad is refusing to take down the tattered and torn American flag that’s been flying on his lawn in Fresno for almost a year, despite complaints from neighbors on his military-heavy block and from a national veterans group that says he’s mistreating the Stars and Stripes.

Even passersby have phoned Louis Haros, demanding that he take down his weather-beaten flag immediately.

But Haros, a Vietnam veteran, told his son last September that he’d wave that flag until he comes home from Iraq.

And a promise is a promise.

"I made a promise to him that it won’t come down until he’s home," Haros told FOXNews.com on Tuesday. "Well, it’s still there. I feel if I bring it down and something happens to him … I don’t know."

Paul Haros is already back on U.S. soil after his second tour in Iraq. He and his dad spoke yesterday when he landed in Wisconsin to undergo medical checks and to relinquish his weapons. But Louis Haros says the flag won’t come down until Paul returns to Fresno.

"I told him this flag protected me in Vietnam and I will see that it protects you," said Haros, a former master sergeant in the U.S. Army. "In a normal situation, I would’ve brought it down a long time ago."

Corporal Paul Haros is expected to be back home by Friday after two tours in Iraq as a member of the Army Reserve and a tour with the 82nd Airborne Division in Operation Desert Storm.

It won’t be soon enough for some of Haros’ neighbors, who see no reason to wait any longer to play taps for the flag.

"I understand why the gentleman is doing it, but it’s in tatters," neighbor John Southward told FOXNews.com. "I fly my flag every day."

But Southward, a former Navy signalman, said he also found it "appalling" that Haros’ son had been in Iraq long enough for the flag to become so raggedy.

"To me, that’s appalling," Southward said. "I wish Mr. Haros and his son the very best, I really do."

Another neighbor, Bryan Walters Sr., was so moved about the condition of the flag that he confronted Haros and then dropped off a new one.

"I’d been watching that flag fall apart," Walters, a Navy veteran, told the Fresno Bee. "It had been getting more and more tattered every day, and it was just breaking my heart."

Ryan Gallucci, a spokesman for AMVETS, a group of 180,000 U.S. veterans, said while it’s a "dicey" situation, the organization would prefer that Haros stop flying the tattered flag.

"It’s a national symbol and not just a symbol of one soldier’s sacrifice," Gallucci told FOXNews.com. "We would advocate he replace it with a serviceable flag out of respect for those who have gone before."

Gallucci acknowledged that Haros was flying the flag for the "right reason," but he suggested that he properly retire it in an appropriate fashion.

According to U.S. Code, an American flag should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning, when it is "no longer a fitting emblem for display."

Haros said he intends to bring the flag down as soon as his son comes home. He’s "definitely" surprised by the complaints he and his wife have received from neighbors and even strangers who drive by and later call their home.

"Once they understand the reason behind what’s going on, they get it," Haros said. "But nobody can actually be in the shoes of the individual until you stand in them. It was a promise I made to my son. If something happened to him, how could I live with that?"

Still, the negative attention brought on by the flag has Haros’ wife getting anxious.

"She’s saying she doesn’t want to get any more heat," he said of the multiple phone calls they receive each day. "It’s really turned into something."

California Father Refuses to Take Down Tattered U.S. Flag – Local News | News Articles | National News | US News – FOXNews.com

A high school girls basketball coach in Kentucky was fired after officials said he exchanged inappropriate phone calls and text messages with a female student.

Butler High School coach Michael Eddy Wilson lost his job after hundreds of phone calls and texts between Wilson and the student were reportedly discovered as part of an investigation by the Jefferson County Public Schools system in Louisville.

His termination letter said he was fired for "conduct unbecoming a teacher," according to The Courier-Journal of Louisville.

The Courier-Journal reported the district said Wilson let students who wanted to avoid running in his gym classes pay him for the privilege.

Investigators said Wilson and the student exchanged 555 texts and calls, totaling 5,399 minutes.

He was fired on Thursday for what Brent McKim, president of the Jefferson County Teachers Association, told The Associated Press on Tuesday he isn’t certain if Wilson would appeal.

Wilson’s team won the girls’ state basketball title in 2008.

The newspaper reported it wasn’t able to reach Wilson for comment.

Girls Basketball Coach Fired After Officials Said They Found Texts, Calls With Female Student – Local News | News Articles | National News | US News – FOXNews.com

Trina Thompson gave it the old college try, but couldn’t find work. Now she thinks her sheepskin wasn’t worth her time, and is suing her alma mater for her money back.

The Monroe College grad wants the $70,000 she spent on tuition because she hasn’t found gainful employment since earning her bachelor’s degree in April, according to a suit filed in Bronx Supreme Court on July 24.

The 27-year-old alleges the business-oriented Bronx school hasn’t lived up to its end of the bargain, and has not done enough to find her a job.

The information-technology student blames Monroe’s Office of Career Advancement

for not providing her with the leads and career advice it promised.

"They have not tried hard enough to help me," the frustrated Bronx resident wrote about the school in her lawsuit.

Well I know I would feel the same way if my school or government did not help me…..

Grad Sues College for $70,000 Because She Can’t Find a Job – Local News | News Articles | National News | US News – FOXNews.com