
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, December 16, 1993                   TAG: 9312160185
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DANVILLE                                LENGTH: Medium

SOUTHERN-HERITAGE CHAPTER FORMS

A group that said it was formed to fight "anti-Southern bigotry" plans to march and distribute petitions to get the Confederate flag flown more often outside the last capitol of the Confederacy.

Danville City Council member Joyce Glaise said Wednesday that she's disappointed the issue "keeps coming up again and again" despite a compromise meant to appease flag supporters and opponents.

The Danville chapter of the Atlanta-based Heritage Preservation Association has formed with more than 25 members, local President Wayne Byrd said.

The group's formation was prompted by a decision in June by the board of directors of the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History to furl the Confederate flag. When the flag was taken down, the ensuing outrage from Confederate enthusiasts prompted the museum board in July to compromise, agreeing to fly the flag on 23 significant Confederate anniversary days. Glaise and other black leaders had complained that the flag symbolized slavery and treason.

The city-owned museum is housed in the last capitol of the Confederacy, and the flag had flown there for decades. When the flag was taken down, the ensuing outrage from Confederate enthusiasts prompted the museum board in July to compromise, agreeing to fly the flag on 23 significant Confederate anniversary days.

"I thought everyone respected the compromise," Glaise said. "We have to compromise with the two extremes."

But Byrd said 23 days a year is not enough. Next month, the Heritage Preservation Association plans a petition drive to drum up support for flying the flag more often. The group also is planning a march in Danville on Lee-Jackson Day, Jan. 17.

Byrd described the group as a "nonpartisan, pro-aggressive and educational organization trying to cultivate a better knowledge of the Southern heritage people have. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

Lee Collins, the association's national president, said the group evolved this fall from the Georgia Committee to Save the State Flag. The Georgia flag came under attack because it includes a likeness of the Confederate battle flag as one of its elements.

"There's a lot of anti-Dixie dogma floating around the country, and HPA is a response to that," Collins said.

He said the association has at least 500 members in 24 states.

"We're up to our chins in anti-Southern bigotry, and we're shoveling as fast as we can," Collins said.

by CNB