SEAGROVE BEACH, Fla. (WJHG/Gray News) – A house along the coast of the Florida panhandle has gone viral for displaying large banners in support of President-elect Donald Trump over the years.
Now, the homeowner says he refuses to take his banners down, even though he has been hit with about $63,000 in fines.
After Trump’s win in the presidential election last week, Marvin Peavy draped a new banner on his vacation home in Seagrove Beach that reads, “Trump Coming Home 2025.”
Peavy has displayed various Trump banners since 2020, including one earlier this month on election day that read, “Who’s your daddy?”
Peavy’s TikTok account has more than 22,000 followers, and some of his videos have gained more than 1 million views.
“I had hundreds of people at my house this morning cheering me on, hundreds of people cheering me on yesterday,” Peavy said. “… People love it because people believe in America the free.”
But not everyone loves the banners. Peavy said he’s had eggs thrown at them, but that never convinced him to take the banners down.
Eggs are the least of Peavy’s worries, though. He said he has racked up about $63,000 in fees for keeping them up.
Walton County Code Compliance officials told Peavy that the banners violate the Scenic Corridor Code 6.10.05.
The code enforces a fee of $50 per day for every day a banner is hung up. Peavy has had Trump banners displayed for 42 months, he says, totaling roughly $63,000 in fines.
Peavy has vowed to fight the fines in court, saying the banners are protected by the First Amendment.
“Their laws cannot supersede my First Amendment right, so they came after my constitutional rights, which they cannot do. It woke me up as a patriot,” Peavy said. “I’m very happy that they came after me and I woke up. I’ve got great lawyers. We feel very good about what’s going on.”
Peavy alleges that a judge has not made a decision on the fees yet because the “courts are backed up.”
Walton County declined to comment due to pending legal court proceedings.
Peavy said he has no plans to stop hanging the banners anytime soon.
“We’re Americans, it’s a great day to wake up today and be a Godly American … Because we are the people, and our government is coming back to us and that’s what Donald Trump has promised us. We will control our government and not our government controlling us,” Peavy said.
Copyright 2024 WJHG via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.