UPDATED Saturday, August 8, 2009 --- 8:45 a.m.

CRIVITZ, Wis. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union has agreed to represent a northern Wisconsin man whose flag was confiscated after he flew it upside down.

The ACLU said Friday it's hoping to resolve the issue without a lawsuit, but it's keeping its options open.

ACLU state director Chris Ahmuty says he hopes the lawyers representing the village of Crivitz have a better understanding of the First Amendment than village authorities did.

The flag was flown last month by Vito Congine Jr., an Iraq veteran upset after the village board denied him a liquor license.

Police seized the flag before a Fourth of July parade, an incident Congine criticized as an act of theft and trespassing. Police returned the flag the next day.

A call to the village's lawyer Friday rang unanswered.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

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Posted Wednesday, July 29, 2009 --- 7:25 a.m.

CRIVITZ, Wis. (AP) -- A northern Wisconsin man who's flying his U.S. flag upside down as a protest has had his banner restored after a recent act of vandalism.

Vito Congine Jr. of Crivitz hung the flag upside down earlier this month. He says he was protesting the village board's decision to deny him a liquor license.

Police seized the flag before a Fourth of July parade, an incident Congine criticized as an act of theft and trespassing. Police returned the flag the next day.

Congine flew it ever since, until someone cut down the flagpole last weekend and stole the flag.

A local welder volunteered to repair the flagpole. It was fixed Monday and the flag hoisted upside down again.

It's not illegal to fly a flag upside down, but some people consider it disrespectful.

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.