Officials in the rural Virginia city where Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson are buried voted late Thursday to Allow only U.S.A, Virginia and city flags to be flown on city-owned poles and no longer allowing Confederate flags on city-owned poles along with other flags.
After a lively 2 1/2-hour public hearing, the Lexington City Council voted 4-1 to allow only U.S., Virginia and city flags to be flown. Personal displays of the Confederate flag are not affected.
Many speakers complained that the flag was an offensive, divisive symbol of the South’s history of slavery and shouldn’t be endorsed by the city of 7,000 people.
"The Confederate flag is not something we want to see flying from our public property," said city resident Marquita Dunn, "The flag is offensive to us."
"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 dressed in a Confederate wool uniform despite the summer temperatures. "That’s freedom to me."
However the City does not limit Personal displays of the Confederate flag.Only United States owned Flag Poles in the city can have U.S.A, Virginia and city flags to be flown.
City Manager T. Jon Ellestad noted that the ordinance only affected city property and wasn’t specifically aimed at the Confederate flag. "They can carry their flags anywhere they want," he said.
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."
Before the rally, ordinance opponents rallied in the city park, then marched to the hearing under a parade of Confederate flags.
"These are the things that make Lexington what it is," said Knight, who didn’t participate in the rally. "The Confederate flag is part of our heritage."
The city received hundreds of complaints in January, the last time Confederate flags were planted in holders on light poles, to mark Lee-Jackson Day.
Such complaints convinced city leaders that they should have clear guidelines governing the flying of flags and banners on light poles, Ellestad said.
Lee, who led Confederate forces during the Civil War Against the U.S.A before surrendering at Appomattox in 1865, became president of what is now Washington and Lee, 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." of the Confederate.
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