Virginia attorney says county cannot remove Confederate flag

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Updated 2:47 pm, Wednesday, September 20, 2017

STAFFORD, Va. (AP) — Officials in a Virginia county told residents that they cannot force a private property owner to remove a huge Confederate flag that flies on a 90-foot (27-meter) flagpole.

Some two dozen residents attended the Stafford County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday night. They urged officials to either remove the flag, which measures 30 feet by 22 feet (9 meters to 6 meters), or regulate its size.

 
Stafford County Attorney Charles Shumate said the county has no legal authority to remove the flag from private property. The flag flies over Interstate 95, near Falmouth.

Kim Wyman, a resident who attended the meeting, said the Confederate flag is a symbol of hate.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Virginia-attorney-says-county-cannot-remove-12215664.php

[theaocp]

1. Let 'em keep it

You have to know where the hate is.

[rockfordfile]

5. I agree if it's on private.

[Hortensis]

2. Okay. It's legal, the end. For now anway. Can't win them all, shouldn't.

A major goal of Madison, Jefferson and others, after all, was to protect people from the tyranny of the majority.

[LanternWaste]

6. And you then believe the story in the OP is illustrative of a tyrannical majority?

"was to protect people from the tyranny of the majority...."

And you then believe the story in the OP is illustrative of a tyrannical majority?

Else what then is the precise relevance of your premise to the OP?

[Hortensis]

8. Oh, LanternWaste. 'Nuf said.

[chimpymustgo]

13. What about HATE SPEECH? What about the abject sickness many people feel when they see that horrid

flag and understand what it REPRESENTS?

The flag should be banned - like the Nazi flag. It represents treason, white supremacy and hate.

[onenote]

15. Uhh...the Nazi flag is not "banned"

Last edited Thu Sep 21, 2017, 01:57 PM - Edit history (1)

Nor is the Union Jack, the Japanese flag, the Italian flag, the Russian flag, the Korean flag, the Vietnamese flag or any other flag of any country that we've gone to war against.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

16. They can look in some other direction.

I can run that picture of the First Amendment on the side of the Newseum again, if you'd like.

[X_Digger]

21. Where do you live that the nazi flag is banned? It isn't the US.

We have no such 'hate speech' laws.

They would fly in the face of the constitution.

[Pope George Ringo II]

3. Freedom of speech isn't about the speech we agree with.

As long as it's not a governmental entity crapping on some of its constituents, individuals have the right to fly that flag until they figure out it's a right better honored in the breach than the observance.

[underpants]

4. To be historically accurate shouldn't it be a white flag?

[The Mouth]

9. My proposal was to *KEEP* all the confederate statues

Just modify them to be holding white flags. Particularly Lee.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Property rights and First Amendment.

[byronius]

10. Hey, that's not a target or anything. No, no giant 'firebomb me' target there.

Try that in California, buddy.

The KKK opened a newspaper office in downtown Sacramento; it was firebombed within a month. A Rush-lover opened up a Rush Limbaugh theme restaurant in downtown; it was firebombed within a month.

I'm not advocating firebombing. But that stuff only works in Virginia. Anywhere sanity reigns, it's Self-Demolition. Suicide by Murder Victim's Grandchildren.

Put me on that jury.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

17. That's a great way you have of addressing your differences out there. NT

Last edited Thu Sep 21, 2017, 09:22 AM - Edit history (1)

Edited. Was: "That's a great way you have to solve your disagreements out there. NT"

I did this to emphasize that firebombing is not a solution.

[byronius]

18. I suppose we don't tolerate Nazis as easily as other states do.

It's arguably counterproductive and I do not advocate violence, but I also appreciate not having a mainstreamed KKK storefront in my city.

[onenote]

20. Don't hurt yourself patting yourself on your back:

California leads nation in number of hate groups.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article167274202.html

[byronius]

24. You have a point, but I do not see that crew except in the Foothills.

Midtown Sac, Oak Park, East Sacramento -- solidly blue.

Orangevale, Citrus Heights, Rio Linda -- I avoid. So I plead perception.

Still, I would argue -- there's no way a permanent public display of race-hatred would survive in this city.

[X_Digger]

22. You seem to do a better than average job of 'tolerating nazis' -- according to the SPLC. n/t

[byronius]

25. They all live out in the suburbs.

I'd also point out that the Sacramento March For Science and Women's March were Huge. 20,000 each at least. We took over downtown, absolutely. No sign of those Nazis.

[onenote]

30. And the flag in Virginia is in a relatively rural exurb--

[byronius]

33. Point taken -- but I maintain that none of ours would display that symbol openly outside their home.

Dangerous behavior anywhere, really. And why? Because the left is so violent?

Or because that shit has got to go, permanently, forever, period?

[onenote]

19. Do you have links to stories about the firebombings you describe

Tried searching for them but couldn't find anything.

Did find stories of a synagogues, a iibrary, and a Chinese-AMerican's home being firebombed in Sacramento.

Apparently Sacramento isn't as progressive as you suggest.

[byronius]

23. The incidents I mentioned were both late eighties, and I'm leaving for vacation shortly, so --

Sorry, no time for links. Sacramento is pretty damned blue, but we're surrounded by Foothill suburbs with some of the worst of the worst right wingers in the country.

I think the violence stems from the fact that it's an extremely diverse city with a horrible history of mistreatment of African Americans and Latinos. There are still emotional scars left over from the brutalization they suffered in the sixties and seventies, enough so that if the KKK opens an office, someone's going to shut it down. When I first came here in the eighties, the bar I worked at was notoriously packed with bitter, violent, old-timey racists.

There are more mixed-race couples in Sacramento than in any other city in the US, according to a 1990's Newsweek article I will also not provide a link for. I generally feel much safer in the mixed-culture neighborhoods than in the whiter meth-head/Trump sign/Obama-hating suburbs like Citrus Heights or Orangevale or Rio Linda (Limbaugh's birthplace), and I'm a short-haired white guy who gets mistaken for One Of Them a lot.

I work in Sacto, but I live in Davis, which went 87.5% for Hillary. Enough said about that.

[dogman]

11. Do they regulate billboards and signage?

Otherwise, maybe not. Get the county ordinances written if need be.

[csziggy]

12. Even if something were passed, it might be grandfathered in

Just ignore it - or buy a sign facing the interstate right there that pretty much says, "This stupid flag stands for treasonous losers."

[dogman]

14. That would work too.

[Kaleva]

26. I have a neighbor who flies a confederate battle flag off her porch here in Upper Michigan

As far as I know, it doesn't seem to bother anyone enough to complain about it.

[SHRED]

27. It's on private land

Why are people even bothering with this?

[DBoon]

28. Try flying a huge German swastika flag in public

See how far you get

[XRubicon]

29. Let him keep his rebel flag on private property

Could we please stop with the confederate flag crap and call it what it is- a rebel flag.