A businessman in suburban Detroit is under fire from unhappy neighbours after hanging a Confederate flag and nooses at his two properties in the area. Robert Tomanovich, who owns Robert's Discount Tree Service in Livonia, Michigan, first hung a noose from a tree and a Confederate flag, printed with the slogan 'I ain't coming down,' on a fence at his home. When neighbours complained, a second noose appeared on a tree outside his tree-cutting business which operates at a second property on the same street. Robert Tomanovich is under fire from unhappy neighbours in Livonia, a suburb of Detroit, after he hung a Confederate flag and nooses at his two properties in the area . Tomanovich first hung a noose from a tree and a Confederate flag, printed with the slogan 'I ain't coming down,' on a fence at his Michigan home . Tomanovich, 55, has denied his actions are racist, although an employee has admitted that the second noose was a deliberate move to antagonise locals. 'One hundred fifty years after Abraham Lincoln's death, we are still going through these kind of atrocities. A hangman's noose and a Confederate flag?' neighbor Mary Greer toldWXYZ. Another local complained that at least one of the nooses was hung from a tree small enough for a young child to climb. When the local TV network attempted to speak to Tomanovich on Friday he refused, although his wife Lindy tried to explain the noose as a tribute to a dead friend. 'Robert has a friend that died in that way (hanging himself), and that's in memory of his friend,' she told WXYZ. 'There's no crime in hanging a noose.' An unnamed employee was qick to take credit for the noose at Tomanovich's business. 'Screw 'em... We're gonna put more up,' he said. Tomanovich, 55, has denied his actions are racist and said he simply liked the colors of the Confederate flag, but has since taken it down . Wife Lindy told local media that the noose was a tribute to a friend of her husband who had hung himself . On Monday, Tomanovich spoke to the Daily News and said accusations of racism were 'stupid.' 'I know black guys, I have black friends. We're all laughing at this stupidity. Do you know how many white guys were hung back in the day? This isn't racist. But all of a sudden it's out of control.' He said he had put up the Confederate flag because 'I like the colors'. Tomanovich also said he has since taken down the nooses and flags, but refused to apologize. 'I don't need to defend this to nobody. My business is doing very well,' he said. 'I only want this story to get bigger. I want people to know I'm not a racist.' A second noose was hung on a tree outside Robert's Discount Tree Service in Livonia, Michigan, after neighbours complained about the first one . An unnamed employee took credit for the noose at Tomanovich's business said, 'Screw 'em... We're gonna put more up'
Robert Tomanovich first hung a noose and a Confederate flag, printed with the slogan 'I ain't coming down,' on a fence at his Michigan home .
Neighbours complained so an employee of Tomanovich's hung a second noose outside his tree-cutting business .
Tomanovich said he simply liked the colors of the flag and his wife claimed the noose was a tribute to a dead friend of her husband .
He has since taken down the nooses and flags, but refuses to apologize .