Flag ban passes (Maryville, TN.)

The Daily Times ^ | 2005-08-12 | Bonny C. Millard

[eyedigress]

The Maryville Board of Education voted on second reading Thursday night to ban flags, including the long-standing Rebel flag, from school-sponsored events.

About 75 people attended the meeting with 10 audience members speaking both for and against the policy.

The event safety policy bans ``noisemakers, flags, laser-pointers (lights), sirens, whistles, portable stereos (e.g. CD players and tape players), banners, horns, handheld signs and implements (e.g. poles, sticks and wires to support flags, banners or other such items at any school sponsored activity.''

The policy addresses other areas including abusive language, harassment/intimidation and taunting.

``Any action or speech that might reasonably be considered fighting words or that is likely to cause substantial disruption is also prohibited,'' the policy reads.

Before the vote, board member Doug Jenkins told the crowd how his personal decision was clarified for him. After the last meeting someone asked him how he felt about the issue, and he said he wanted to share those feelings.

Jenkins said he ``had to be convinced about the importance of this issue.''

Citing the history of his son playing football for the high school and the excitement of preparing for games, which included the use of the flag, he said the flag didn't represent oppression or racism to him.

However, he said he listened to what all different people had to say and read all the letters. What convinced him was an e-mail written by Carl Stewart that was printed in The Daily Times along with numerous other e-mails.

Stewart, a running back, was named the Tennessee Class 4A Mr. Football Back of the Year and Tennessee Sports Writers Class 4A first-team All-State while at Maryville. Stewart, who plays for Auburn University, helped lead Maryville to its third-consecutive Class 4A state championship.

Stewart is black.

Stewart's e-mail

``I spent my four years cringing each time I had to run and like it as the Confederate battle flag waved,'' Stewart said in his e-mail. ``I was proud of my school and the school spirit, but I despised being represented by a symbol that stood for minority oppression.''

Jenkins said he assumed, as other people he's talked to have assumed, that Stewart liked playing under the flag. Reading Stewart's letter convinced him that it was time for a change.

``In my heart, I think this is the right thing,'' said Jenkins, who urged people to ``support these kids regardless.''

Jenkins said he is proud of his Southern heritage and named examples of what he considers that to be. But people have failed to take ownership of the flag back from the hate groups that have used it for their causes, he said.

``What makes this a great community is that we care about each other,'' Jenkins said.

A tough decision

Other board members said it was a tough decision including Mark Cate, who made the motion to approve the policy. Cate graduated from Maryville High School.

``It's about doing the right thing,'' Cate said.

Board member Sherry Miller, a former cheerleader at the high school, seconded the motion. Board member Denny Garner, a graduate and former football player, was the sole vote against the ban.

Chairman Carolyn McAmis only votes in case of a tie.

``It is not an easy decision for us because we all have friends on both sides,'' McAmis said, even though she didn't vote.

Prior to the vote, freshman Will Lairamore asked the board not to get rid of the flag and noisemakers. He said it had inspired his brother and other football players to keep going when things were down, when they saw the cheering fans and waving flags.

Barbara Little, who grew up with Southern heritage as a big part of her family, said the flag has been misused by hate groups in recent years. Little, who is white, asked the board to consider what it felt like to black person and come to the school with those flags flying.

The ban takes effect immediately that will include tonight's Maryville Orthopaedic Clinic Football Jamboree at Maryville High School.

[300magnum]

Just another shining example of our liberal public education system.

[AmericanChef]

-``Any action or speech that might reasonably be considered fighting words or that is likely to cause substantial disruption is also prohibited,'' the policy reads.-

Those choir programs can get a bit rough, can't they?

[billbears]

bump

[eyedigress]

The only way they could get this through was to ban everything, therefore violating everyone's freedom of expression instead of select groups.

Boy, dem dar elitist folks sure are smart! /sarc

[Lucky Dog]

The policy addresses other areas including abusive language, harassment/intimidation and taunting.

While the school board may be able to dictate to students (minors), what about adults attending events? BTW, exactly what constitutes “abusive language” or “harassment/intimidation and taunting?” Such a restriction seems to fit into what has been ruled against as “vague language” by courts across the nation.

“Any action or speech that might reasonably be considered fighting words or that is likely to cause substantial disruption is also prohibited,'' the policy reads.

Isn’t it rather interesting that it is considered free speech, and not liable to “be considered fighting words or that is likely to cause substantial disruption” in this country to burn the national symbol, a flag, but not to wave one at a football game?

I think if anyone has the fortitude and money to take this issue to court, it will fold up like a house of cards. The school board is a government entity and the Supreme Court has ruled that government entities may not breach the Bill of Rights. Last I checked, the First Amendment was in the Bill of Rights.

As an item of interest, my son played football at, and, graduated from, Maryville some years back. Based upon my interaction with the student body while he was there, the smart way for the board to have handled this issue would have been to let the student body vote on it. With some clever campaigning, they probably could have achieved their goal without the uproar or illegality.

[eyedigress]

Here's an added tidbit from the Knoxville News-Sentinel

"In 1999, the school board voted to drop the flag as an official school symbol. The board's 1999 decision also removed from the school cafeteria a mural combining a Confederate flag with the letter "M" and prohibited the school band from playing "Dixie.""

[Lucky Dog]

It is sad that "political correctness" rules the day. "PC" began with an effort (still ongoing) to "capture" the language by "outlawing" certain words like "cripple," "deaf-mute" and "blind," etc., to avoid "hurting someone's feelings." As this case and many others demonstrate, the effort has now spread and is threatening to prove Karl Marx right.

[ohioman]

Sorry. I understand totally. My Damn Yank was directed at my fellow Ohioians on here.

[lionheart 247365]

Big time ping !

[Colonel Kangaroo]

The US flag should not be banned, but the rebel flag has no historical place in Maryville. If Maryville and Blount county schools were doing a good job, more citizens would know that on June 27, 1861, Blount county voted by more than four to one to remain in the Union.

It pains me when I see so many East Tennesseans ignorant of their proud pro-Union Civil War heritage.