Missouri parks chief: Confederate flag could fly at 'special events By Scott Charton Associated Press Writer 01/27/2003 02:39 PM COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- The Confederate battle flag may be raised during ``special events'' at two Missouri historic sites, but the banners probably will never again be flown year-round, the state parks director said Tuesday. ``In conjunction with special events, I see no difficulty there with the flag's display,'' said Doug Eiken, parks chief at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, in a telephone interview. ``But otherwise, no, it would not fly again regularly.'' Eiken's boss, DNR Director Steve Mahfood, ordered Confederate battle flags removed from poles at the two sites on Jan. 14, after Mahfood learned that Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt of St. Louis said the banners shouldn't fly anywhere. The abrupt removal of the flags has stirred anger among Confederate heritage groups, who call the action politically motivated. The DNR has said the banners flew for decades without complaint at the Confederate Memorial State Historic Site at Higginsville, which includes a cemetery with the graves of hundreds of Southern soldiers, and at Fort Davidson in eastern Missouri, site of the 1864 Battle of Pilot Knob. The Sons of Confederate Veterans, a heritage organization that denounces the flag's use by white supremacists, offered several compromise proposals to Eiken during a recent meeting, said state commander Gene Dressel of Jonesburg. The proposals included flying the flag on its own pole -- but lower than the U.S. flag -- close to the cemetery and the fort, or returning the Higginsville site to control of a private group. ``We want to not only see that our veterans are honored, but we want the good name of the Department of Natural Resources to be cleared,'' Dressel said Monday. ``To take the flag down, they've violated a sacred trust.'' Eiken said Tuesday the DNR is reviewing the proposals, but that he couldn't foresee any situation where the flag would fly again year-round on state property. ``As part of a special event, that's one thing,'' Eiken said. ``But to place the flags and permanently keep them out there, that's inconsistent with the directive of taking the flags down.'' He said a special event could include a Civil War re-enactment. Eiken said it could also include an annual tradition at Higginsville during which a private group places small flags on hundreds of Southern graves in early June to commemorate the birthday of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. During a meeting Monday in Higginsville attended by about 80 supporters of the Confederate Memorial Friends Association, audience members criticized the sudden removal of the flag. The audience was told by two DNR staffers the agency wouldn't stop descendants of Confederates buried at the site from placing small battle flags on graves year-round, so long as the displays were kept tidy. But Eiken said Tuesday that such year-round displays ``wouldn't be consistent'' with Mahfood's order. Meanwhile, the vice president of a volunteer group that supports the Fort Davidson site said he resigned ``with sincere sorrow'' to protest the flag's removal. Ron Warren told The Daily Journal in Park Hills his ancestors fought at Fort Davidson and the flag's display there saluted bravery -- not slavery. Warren said Americans would be similarly upset if the government of France ordered U.S. flags pulled down at a cemetery in Normandy where veterans of the D-Day invasion are buried. ``I feel DNR's insulted me with their actions. It's personal to me,'' Warren told the newspaper. Desoto Joe/The Record Man