Gov. Holden wants to "heal our pain". Read on. ----- Original Message ----- Sent: Friday, February 21, 2003 3:14 PM MO Gov. Holden: Removing Confederate flags was 'right decision' JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Bob Holden said Thursday that his administration made "the right decision'' to suddenly pull down Confederate battle flags that had flown for years without controversy at two Missouri historic sites. The governor also said he sees no need to meet with representatives of Southern heritage groups pressing for a compromise to restore the flags over a Confederate cemetery and a Civil War fort. Gene Dressel of Jonesburg, commander in chief of the Missouri Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans, said he is disappointed but not surprised by Holden's comments. "A poll shows two-thirds of the people of Missouri say he is wrong on this issue. I suppose we will have to wait for a change in leadership in the Capitol but the flags will go back up at some point,'' Dressel said. Dressel referred to a recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch poll that found two-thirds of Missourians oppose the recent decision to pull down the flags at the Higginsville and Fort Davidson state historic sites. Of the 603 Missourians surveyed, 45 percent said they "strongly disagree'' with the decision and an additional 21 percent said they "somewhat disagree.'' Just 30 percent said they agree with removing the flag. The poll by Zogby International had a possible error margin of 4.1 percentage points. Holden told visiting reporters at the Governor's Mansion that continued display of the Confederate battle flag on state property might hurt Missouri's economic development efforts. "I'm trying to heal society,'' Holden said. "If we continue to fight each other we will not be successful in competing in the global economy.'' The flags came down Jan. 14 after Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt of St. Louis, Holden's former boss, issued a statement in South Carolina that the Confederate battle flag should no longer fly "anytime, anywhere.'' The Associated Press then reported on the Confederate flags flying without controversy at the historic sites in Gephardt's home state, noting that the state Department of Natural Resources hadn't received any complaints from any elected officials, including Gephardt. Gephardt's spokesman said the congressman was unfamiliar with the Missouri flag displays because they were outside his St. Louis district but said the flags should still be removed. Holden's spokeswoman, Mary Still, said she read The AP's report and passed word about it to Steve Mahfood, director of the Department of Natural Resources. Mahfood ordered the flags down the same day. Still said Holden was told about the decision later. "It was the right decision,'' Holden said on Wednesday. The Confederate battle flag "has been used as a divisive instrument in modern times to try to drive people apart, not bring them together,'' Holden said. The governor said he believes the flag may be appropriately displayed in a museum, where it is subject to "historical interpretation.'' Confederate heritage groups -- and an historic site supervisor from Holden's own Natural Resources Department -- have declared there is no more appropriate place to fly the flag than over graves of about 700 Confederate soldiers and wives at Higginsville or at Fort Davidson, site of a Civil War battle. Dressel said the state's removal of the flags violates an agreement made early in the last century when Missouri took over the privately owned Higginsville Confederate home and cemetery. The Sons of Confederate Veterans proposed to the state that a lower flagpole be placed close to the graves. Dressel said he has received no response from the state. On Jan. 18, demonstrators protesting the flags' removal marched outside the Governor's Mansion. Dressel said they will return March 1 for another peaceful demonstration at the mansion "to let the governor know many Missourians, including many of his fellow Democrats, disagree with this decision.'' -----