FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – A North Carolina family whose “North Carolina Cheesehead” banner was snatched from Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, received a new banner thanks to Fayetteville UPS Store owner.
Steve Milburn, the owner of UPS Store 2974 in Fayetteville, has made a new banner for longtime Green Bay Packers fan Mike Dobs. The banner was presented to Dobs Wednesday morning.
Dobs and his family brought their 8-foot banner to Sunday’s game in Charlotte. The family even had approval to have the banner at the game.
“You can have the banner here but remember you can’t tie it down, you can only hold it,” Dobs said the family was warned.
During Sunday’s pregame warmups, Newton snatched the banner from the family’s hands, Dobs said.
“He ran up to us and ripped the banner out of our hands,” said Dobs, a retired Army Command Sergeant Major who served for 27 years.
Dobs said they were later told the banner had been destroyed.
Newton defended his decision to snatch the banner.
“I feel that it’s my due diligence to protect this house, and gesture of tearing down the sign, it wasn’t necessarily about tearing down the sign, it was about respect,” Newton later explained in a press conference.
Milburn, the owner of the UPS Store in Fayetteville, said, “I feel pretty good about it because we are both veterans and I get to give this to him on Veterans Day,” Steve Milburn told WNCN.
Milburn and Dobs actually served in the same regiment.
Dobs said his new banner was “bigger and better” and the family hopes to have the Packers sign it.
Dobs also received a banner later Tuesday night from Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. He also received an apology from a Panthers official in his voicemail.
