Lexington Va. Bans the Flying of Confederate Flags From City Property

[jimmy olsen]

Good.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44367842

Virginia city limits Confederate flag-flying
Ralliers say they will challenge decision banning banner from downtown poles

By STEVE SZKOTAK
updated 9/2/2011 12:20:25 AM ET 2011-09-02T04:20:25


LEXINGTON, Va. — A rural Virginia city where Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson are buried on Thursday limited the flying of the Confederate flag on poles on several downtown streets.

After more than 2 hours of heated debate, the Lexington City Council voted 4-1 to allow only the Virginia, U.S. and city flags to be displayed. Personal displays of the Confederate flag are not affected.

About 100 people led by the Sons of Confederate Veterans rallied before the vote and then showed up in force to speak to city council to dissuade them from enacting the ordinance. Other residents complained that the flag is a divisive symbol of the South's history of slavery and shouldn't be endorsed by the city.

Afterward the group said they would legally challenge the ban in the city of 7,000.

"I am a firm believer in the freedom to express our individual rights, which include flying the flag that we decide to fly," said Philip Way, a Civil War re-enactor who turned out for the late-summer rally clad in a Confederate wool uniform. "That's freedom to me."

Mimi Knight, watching from a wrought iron fence at a sea of Confederate flags in a small city park, was not part of the rally. But she said she thought the city ordinance seemed too restrictive.

"These are the things that make Lexington what it is," she said. "The Confederate flag is part of our heritage."

Supporters of the ordinance were not apparent at the rally.

Officials in this college town insist the limits are not aimed at the Confederate flag.

"They can carry their flags anywhere they want," City Manager T. Jon Ellestad said. The city received hundreds of complaints the last time Confederate flags were planted in holders on lights poles in January to mark Lee-Jackson Day, a state holiday.

People complained "that displaying the Confederate flag is very hurtful to groups of people," Ellestad said. "In their mind, it stands for the defense of slavery."

The complaints convinced city leaders they should have clear guidelines governing the flying of flags and banners on light poles, Ellestad said.

Heritage groups such as Sons of Confederate Veterans said the restrictions on the flying of the Confederate flag in Lexington are especially painful because of the two military leaders' strong ties here.

A Virginia NAACP representative could not be immediately reached for comment.

The NAACP launched an economic boycott of South Carolina in 1999 about the Confederate flag that flew atop the Statehouse dome and in the chambers of the House and Senate. A compromise in 2000 moved the flag to a monument outside the Statehouse. The group's president says the flag is a symbol of slavery and segregation.

Jackson taught at Virginia Military Institute before the Civil War, where he became widely known as "Stonewall" after the first Battle of Manassas; he died in 1863 from wounds suffered at Chancellorsville along with pneumonia, and is buried in Lexington, according to the website for the Stonewall Jackson House. Lee, who led Confederate forces during the Civil War before finally surrendering at Appomattox in 1865, became president of what is now Washington and Lee University, where he is buried.

"By all means they should be honored in their hometown," said Brandon Dorsey, commander of Camp 1296 of the Stonewall Brigade of the Confederate Veterans. "I look at the flag as honoring the veterans."

This is not the first time Lexington, is at the southern end of the Shenandoah Valley, has clashed with the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

The city attempted nearly 20 years ago to ban the display of the Confederate flag during a parade honoring Jackson. The American Civil Liberties Union, which successfully defended the group's bid to carry the flag, is closely watching this dispute from afar.

"City council could live to regret this ordinance, as it imposes unusually restrictive limits on the use of the light poles," said Kent Willis, the ACLU's executive director in Virginia. "Sometime in the future when city officials want to use those light poles to promote a special event they may find themselves handcuffed by their own lawmaking."

[Zanza]

Sons of Confederate Veterans? Are they all 120 years old?

[citizen k]

A rural "city" of 7,000? Sounds like a town to me.

[CountDeMoney]

More "heritage" bullshit.  Those crackers never learn.

[Caliga]

Sons of Confederate Veterans? Are they all 120 years old?

Alot of American heritage societies are "Sons/Daughters of" something or other.  Other examples include Sons of the American Revolution, Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters of the Republic of Texas, United Daughters of the Confederacy, etc.

[Caliga]

A rural "city" of 7,000? Sounds like a town to me.

Technically my town is a "city" and it had a population of 1,009 in the 2000 census.

[Admiral Yi]

Technically my town is a "city" and it had a population of 1,009 in the 2000 census.

What's the technical definition of a city?

[Caliga]

What I mean is it calls itself "City of Taylorsville".

[Sheilbh]

What's the technical definition of a city?

Has a Cathedral?

[Duque de Bragança]

Technically my town is a "city" and it had a population of 1,009 in the 2000 census.

What's the technical definition of a city?

Depends on the country or State if  you prefer.

[Admiral Yi]

Has a Cathedral?

How about a forum?

[Caliga]

We have neither a cathedral nor a forum.

We do have a county courthouse, though!

[Martinus]

What's the technical definition of a city?

Has a Cathedral?

No cities in Saudi Arabia.

[grumbler]

A rural "city" of 7,000? Sounds like a town to me. 

Virginia is a commonwealth, so all subordinate political units are established by law, not by common sense.  A city is anything that the state law calls a city.  It isn't defined by size.

[Neil]

Will this hold up in court?  It seems that it's an infringement on freedom of expression, but who knows.  All I know is that Tim is a jerk.