State flag to no longer fly on Washington County properties
Published 5:00 pm Wednesday, January 6, 2016
- FILE - In this July 6, 2015, photograph, a small group of Mississippi and Confederate flag-waving citizens participate in a rally sponsored by the Magnolia State Heritage Campaign seeking publicity and support to help keep the Confederate battle emblem in the Mississippi flag on the steps of the Capitol in Jackson, Miss. House Speaker Philip Gunn said his own faith causes him to see the Mississippi flag as "a point of offense that needs to be removed." Several cities and counties, and two universities stopped flying the state flag. Republican Gov. Phil Bryant says he respects results of a 2001 election, when voters chose to keep the Confederate emblem on the flag. However he also said if the issue is going to be revisited, it should happen during the November 2016 election. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
GREENVILLE, Miss. (AP) — The state flag of Mississippi will no longer fly on Washington County properties.
The Washington County Board of Supervisors voted Monday 3-2 in favor of removing the flag, which features a Confederate emblem, from county properties, according to the Delta Democrat-Times (http://bit.ly/1OAeBwa). The Concerned Ministers and Citizens of Washington County had been petitioning for the removal of the flag over the past year.
Mary Haynes, an 87-year-old Greenville resident, said she hoped the board would take the necessary action of removing the flag, which, she said, isn’t a symbol of unification.
“Having been around for as long as I have, having worked in this community all of my life, that’s just the way I feel,” Haynes said. “We need the commitment that comes from the heart and not some politics.”
This was the third time community members have asked the supervisors to remove the flag since July. Each previous time, members voted 3-2 to keep the flag.
Those who voted against the removal of the flag, supervisors Lee Gordon and Jesse Amos, said the issue is a state matter.
“There is no doubt that this flag needs to be replaced,” Gordon said. “But, I’m a vote against taking it down this way, and the reason being is because it is a state flag and I’d like to see the majority of Mississippians vote this flag down.”
Although he has voted to keep the state flag, Amos, the former board president, said he is not a supporter of the flag and agrees the Confederate emblem should be removed. That is why he helped write a resolution to the Legislature, asking for the state to consider removing the emblem from the flag.