Posted on 01/17/2006 9:16:08 AM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
Maryville, Blount County (WVLT) - The issue involving the confederate flag is coming back in Blount County after students at a local high school were ordered to cover up their shirts on Friday with the confederate flag on it.
WVLT Volunteer TV's Blount County Bureau Chief Stephen McLamb has the latest.
More than 150 students at William Blount High School have signed a petition seeking support for the right to wear confederate symbols on shirts and other clothing items.
But students who wore the emblem on Friday say they were threatened with suspension if they didn't cover up.
Some students say they support the right to express their confederate heritage that the school has taken away.
Many students came to school on Friday wearing a confederate symbol but say school officials then threatened them.
"If we didn't they said that they were going to suspend us, but my friend Bruce, they threatened my friend Bruce that if he didn't turn his shirt inside out, they were going to take him to juvenile," says Derek Barr, who started the flag petition.
Barr says he hopes to seek more signatures for his petition but says he's concerned about retaliation from school officials.
Attempts to contact Principal Steve Lafon or Superintendent Alvin Hord were unsuccessful.
The policy may be facing legal action, local Sons of Confederates Camp Commander Ron Jones says they will be assisting the students should a suit be filed against the school system.
But Tennessee as a whole was a Confederate state, and even in the pro-Union east there were some supporters of the Confederacy.
"Yes, East Tennessee was strongly pro-Union."
So, TN was not one of the Confederate States of America, then?
They did not seceed from the union and take up arms against the Union?
Bet they can wear a shirt with the portrait of Che Guevara on it and not a word will be spoken .
Come on kids, you know you are supposed to wear the rainbow fag, er flag.
We have tolerance for everyone, as long as they're commies or fags.
Hey Colonel, when did you get promoted?
Give my regards to Mr Greenjeans.
After the war Blount County was very Republican, having one of the strongest Union Leagues and even voting several black men into elected positions which was usually unheard of in the 19th century. Blount County was very progressive and non-Confederate. It's too bad that it seems like many of the kids are ignorant of the proud history of their home county.
The SCV headquarters is in eastern TN (Elm Springs). Not sure the distance from that town though.
All true, and there's nothing wrong with respecting the Union. I just don't see any problem with kids respecting Confederate heritage. It may indeed be the heritage of the individual students in question.
The war against Confederate symbols is just an opening wedge issue for an eventual leftist war against the U.S. Flag and Bill of Rights. Why people are so blind to that, I don't know. But if the Confederate Flag is an evil and offensive symbol, so is Old Glory, which flew over the institution of slavery for almost a century. So is the Bill of Rights, conceptualized by "slave owners" such as Madison and Jefferson.
The time will come when George Washington and Christopher Columbus get the Politically Correct purge from our heritage as well. The only way to stop this nonsense is to nip it in the bud, and that means not letting the hard left set a precedent that "slave owners" are inherently an ugly and offensive part of our heritage in need of eradication.
This is also Senator Lamar Alexander's home county.
True enough that the flag that most passes for a confederate flag is not the correct flag, and a lot of these kids probably moved into the school district from another area, but this is a free speech issue, like posted later if people on the left can say anything they like and get by with it. The "rebel flags" that are probably being worn here are a political statement as much as a rainbow.
Elm Springs is in Maury County in Middle Tennessee, not too far from Pulaski, birthplace of the KKK. Maury County voted 2731 to 78 to leave the Union, so I guess that's a good place for SCV headquarters. The regions of Tennessee historically had as much diversity as any state in the Union. Had the Union army been close by as in Virginia, East Tennessee surely would have followed the path of West Virginia. The loyal citizens of East Tennessee even held a convention in Greeneville to try to do that.
Well said, but even if it is not their heiratage it is a political statement against government tyranny. I would fly one today if either Gore of Kerry had won. Call me a reactionist or what ever i do not care, but i see the flag as a statement against government by liberals and their like
"But even for East Tennessee, Blount County was a strong Union county, voting over 4 to 1 to remain in the Union"
And that 25% is a foundation for heritage. Jones County, MS was "The Free State of Jones" during the Civil War. While these are interesting footnotes to history, they really have no bearing on the topic at hand.
How many dorks ran around wearing Union Jacks in the '80's? Nobody banned that and I KNOW those morons weren't British.
I'm in agreement that the forces that would make our government more intrusive should be opposed. But I just don't see Confederate symbols as being the best statement for that good sentiment. I know of no government of the Americans that was more tyrannical than that of the CSA.
How many Americans did he kill at Gettysburg?
Aha! The old "I'm secretly wearing it just for the reaction it'll get" ploy, eh?
Kinda like wearing my beautiful silver cross everyday. Even around Buddhist monks!
State of Franklin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Franklin
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.