A Rockland County activist says he hung a giant banner of the United States Constitution outside his office to send a message of equality.

Social worker Joe Hazucha says he hung the large sign outside his office on Main Street in Nyack Saturday because he thinks the country is in the middle of a constitutional crisis.

Hazucha, who is also a retired U.S. Army officer, says student activists helped him hang the sign in the hope of sending the Constitution's message of equality for all.

Village officials say it's against Nyack's building laws to hang political banners without a permit, which Hazucha doesn't have.

Nyack Mayor Don Hammond says he admires Hazucha, who runs the Nyack Homeless Project in town, but says the activist will be fined if he doesn't get a permit. That already happened last year when Hazucha hung a sign with an Abraham Lincoln quote in the same place.

Hazucha says the $100 fine is worth it. 

“Everyone can affect society in genuine ways. The butterfly effect,” he says.

Hazucha says he plans to file for a permit so the sign can stay up legally until Election Day this November. He says he didn't go through the process of getting a permit to hang the sign because he felt it was critical to display the banner now as Independence Day approaches.