FreeRepublic.com "A Conservative News Forum" Petitions launched to restore Confederate flag over cemetery Jefferson City News Tribune ^ | January 28, 2003 | AP Posted on 01/28/2003 7:42 PM PST by stainlessbanner HIGGINSVILLE, Mo. (AP) -- Supporters of a state memorial site that includes the graves of hundreds of Southern soldiers launched a petition drive Monday urging state officials to once again allow the Confederate battle flag to fly over the cemetery. They also criticized Steve Mahfood, director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, who ordered the flags removed at Higginsville and another state historic site on Jan. 14 after Democratic presidential hopeful Dick Gephardt of St. Louis said they shouldn't be flown anywhere. Gephardt and Gov. Bob Holden -- Mahfood's boss who once worked for Gephardt -- also were lambasted by descendants of Confederate veterans buried at Higginsville. "This was a political decision that pays no regard to historical context," said Gene Dressel of Jonesburg, Missouri Division commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a heritage group that opposes the flag's use by white supremacists. Dressel told those gathered at the meeting that he met recently with state officials to propose compromises including flying the Confederate battle flag on a separate pole closer to the cemetery -- or having a non-profit group take over the site from the state so the flag could be flown again. He is awaiting a response. Frank Haston of Higginsville, president of the memorial association, said the petitions would be circulated statewide and then presented to state leaders "to show them that there are many Missourians who don't view this flag as a symbol of hatred, and don't appreciate the politics behind this decision." Gephardt entered South Carolina's flag controversy by issuing a statement after a campaign trip earlier this month, saying it shouldn't be displayed "anytime, anywhere." Mary Still, Holden's director of communications, said she saw Gephardt's comments in news reports and relayed them -- without Holden's knowledge -- to Mahfood. She said the decision to pull down the flags immediately was Mahfood's, although Holden last week endorsed the decision. The audience at Higginsville took turns berating the sudden decision and heard from an official of the Department of Natural Resources who acknowledged the decision was prompted by politics. While defending Mahfood, his boss, as a "fine man," James Rehard, district supervisor of DNR's historic sites, said the flag was "taken down so it would not embarrass Rep. Gephardt." "I believe it has been a mistake to lower it here," Rehard said, stressing that he was speaking for himself, not DNR. "If there is a place it should fly in Missouri, it was here ... it is down because the politicians want it down." Rehard stood for half an hour listening to the complaints, and audience members later shook his hand and commended him for facing the anger. He promised to pass along the comments to Mahfood. Audience members said the flag's display is appropriate at Higginsville because its cemetery has remains of 694 Confederate veterans and 108 wives. The 192-acre historic site, some 40 miles east of Kansas City, was once the location of a state-run Confederate veterans home. The Fort Davidson site in eastern Missouri commemorates the 1864 Battle of Pilot Knob. To: stainlessbanner The politicians of Missouri would do well to learn what honorable behavior is from the only organization that was given the authority to speak for the Grand Army of the Republic. RESOLUTION OF SUPPORT DISPLAY OF BATTLE FLAGS OF THE CONFEDERACY 119TH NATIONAL ENCAMPMENT OF THE SONS OF UNION VETERANS OF THE CIVIL WAR LANSING, MICHIGAN AUGUST 19, 2000 A resolution in support of the display of the Confederate Battle Flag. WHEREAS, we the members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, condemn the use of the confederate battle flag, as well as the flag of the United States, by any and all hate groups, and WHEREAS, we the members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War support the flying of the confederate battle flag as a historical piece of this nation's history, and WHEREAS, we the members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War oppose the removal of any Confederate monuments or markers to those gallant soldiers in the former Confederate States, and strongly oppose the removal of ANY reminders of this nation's bloodiest war on the grounds of it being "politically correct," and WHEREAS, we, as the descendants of Union soldiers and sailors who, as members of the Grand Army of the Republic, met in joint reunions with the confederate veterans under both flags in those bonds of Fraternal Friendship, pledge our support and admiration for those gallant soldiers and of their respective flags; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that we the members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War in 119th Annual National Encampment hereby adopt this resolution. Dated in Lansing, Michigan, on this nineteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord Two thousand. By Order of: Danny L. Wheeler Commander-in-Chief Attest: Todd A. Shillington National Secretary