ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 25, 1996 TAG: 9603250126
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: TAZEWELL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Civil War memorial group whose request to display a Confederate flag over the county courthouse was denied says it hopes the flag could fly over another government building.
The Brown-Harmon Nighthawks, a group that honors the memory of Confederate soldiers from Tazewell County, wants to fly the Stars and Bars over the county administration building April 26, Confederate Memorial Day.
The Stars and Bars is the first flag used by the Confederacy, not the traditional battle flag that is normally associated with the Confederate army, said Greg Matney, a member of the group. The flag resembles the U.S. flag, with two red stripes and one white stripe in the middle and a field of blue with a circle of seven white stars in the upper left corner.
``Our sole purpose is to honor the Confederate dead and to do so in the least offensive way,'' Matney said.
The Board of Supervisors granted permission last week for the group to fly the flag over the courthouse, with the stipulation that it would have to meet the approval of Circuit Judge Donald Mullins. Mullins denied the group's request.
Mullins could not be reached for comment Friday. There was no answer Sunday at a number for Mullins provided by directory assistance.
Matney said Mullins denied permission because he did not think it would be appropriate. ``He thought it would unnecessarily divide the community,'' Matney said.
Matney said he has met with William Brothers, president of the Tazewell County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and has explained to him the group's purpose in wanting to fly the flag.
``We don't want to be confrontational about it. It's not something with racist connotations. ... It's not a black versus white situation,'' Matney said.
Brothers said Sunday that the NAACP has not taken a position on the matter. But based on the little information he has about Matney's group, he isn't opposed to flying the Stars and Bars for Confederate Memorial Day.
``They say that the organization is not a racist group,'' he said. ``Personally, if they are not a racist group, I am not opposed to it.''
Brothers said he would be opposed, however, to the flying of the Confederate battle flag.
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