CONNOQUENESSING TWP — A swastika painted on an upside down American flag is something you don’t see every day.

The unusual public display last month at Douglas C. Johnston’s home on Spring Valley Road caused a stir. A visit by state police followed the stir.

Believing the flag — attached to several trees by its four corners — had been desecrated, Trooper Brian Palko confiscated it May 19.

A month later and just two days after the Flag Day holiday, police Monday charged Johnston with defacing the U.S. flag, a third-degree misdemeanor.

While the U.S. Supreme Court ruled long ago that flag desecration is protected speech, under Pennsylvania law, it’s still a crime.

The relevant statutes, in part, state that a person is guilty if he exhibits or displays “any marks, writing or design of any nature or any advertisement upon any flag (and) exposes to public view any such marked or defiled flag,” that is, American flag or the flag of the commonwealth.

Police also cited Johnston for disorderly conduct, a summary charge, alleging he made an obscene gesture by disfiguring the flag.

Johnston allowed troopers to take the flag, but he told them they had it all wrong.

“He said it was a Hindu swastika on the flag and it meant good karma,” a police affidavit filed with the criminal complaint said.

And historically, he has a point, according to Anuradha Varma, a reporter for the The Times of India, an Indian English-language newspaper.

The paper is also recognized as the world’s largest selling English-language daily.

Varma, writing in a previously published column, noted that the swastika is a sacred symbol in Indian religions, dating back to 2500 B.C. It represents good luck, peace and prosperity.

“The Swastika, the symbol of Nazi Germany, actually means a lucky charm or a symbol of well-being for most of us,” she wrote.

Paul Kudamik, who lives just two houses down from Johnston, never saw the flag. But he’s seen another swastika at his neighbor’s home.

“He spray-painted a swastika on a privacy fence,” Kudamik told the Butler Eagle. “It’s getting faded but it’s still there.”

The red, 2- to 3-square-foot symbol was painted on the wooden fence a year or two ago. Kudamik recalled that particular swastika first appeared during a dispute between Johnston and another neighbor.

The meaning of his swastikas aside, the defendant told police that he displayed the flag upside down “because the county was in distress and he was trying to bring good karma to the neighborhood,” the affidavit said.

Once again, Johnston was not off base, totally.

The United States Flag Code states, “The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.”

Kudamik said if his neighbor holds any political views, he’s unaware of them. But he admits he doesn’t know Johnston too well.

“He’s a biker, I think,” Kudamik said.

“I talk to him the way I try to talk to all my neighbors. I try to get along with everyone.”

Neither Johnston nor Palko returned telephone calls Tuesday.