By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The star-spangled spat is over. St. Xavier High School graduate Nicholas L. Payne has won his battle to fly Old Glory from the balcony of his on-campus apartment at Saint Louis University.

In a telephone interview Friday, Payne, 21, formerly of Delhi Township, said he thinks news media attention - and the support of his congressman, Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio - pushed university officials to relent on a policy that forbids any object to be hung from university balconies.

Jeff Fowler, university spokesman, could not be reached for comment Friday evening. But the student newspaper, The University News, on its Internet site, quoted Fowler saying that the university had agreed to exempt the U.S. flag from its policy.

"This would not have happened if it had not been for Steve Chabot," Payne said. "It absolutely had to do with the news release from Chabot's office and all the calls from the Associated Press and (various news reporters) ...Try as we might, the university would not listen to us without him (Chabot)."

Payne enlisted Chabot's help in mid-October, after university officials reprimanded him and threatened him with fines and possible confiscation of his flag.

Payne said he thought the policy violated his constitutional rights, and said he had been flying the flag as an act of patriotism since just after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In December 2001, a university employee told Payne the flag violated policy - and ordered Payne to remove it. Payne ignored that directive and heard nothing more until he received the reprimand.

While happy that he and his roommate can continue to display their flag without fear of punishment, Payne said, "We don't know why we should have to win this battle - it's one we shouldn't have had to fight in the first place."

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E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com