Free Republic

ODUM--States from Alabama to South Carolina and retailers from Amazon to Walmart are folding their Confederate flags in the wake of the June 17 deaths of nine worshipers at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. But Dewey Barber is sticking with the image on the T-shirts and vehicle tags his workers turn out at Dixie Outfitters in Odum, and that kept everyone busy filling a surge in orders and fielding calls Tuesday. “It is good for business,’’ said Barber, owner of the company he founded in 1997 with three people. “We’ve seen a surge in orders.” Civil rights groups have long...

Amid a growing mound of Confederate flag cases, one unsettled legal issue in courts across the country is this: Can public schools ban the wearing of Dixie Outfitters and other Confederate T-shirts without running afoul of the First Amendment?

Amid a growing mound of Confederate flag cases, one unsettled legal issue in courts across the country is this: Can public schools ban the wearing of Dixie Outfitters and other Confederate T-shirts without running afoul of the First Amendment? The Dixie Outfitter shirts celebrate the Confederate flag—insofar as draping fuzzy baby bunnies, fuzzy puppies, and fuzzy duckies in flags could be said to constitute celebration. Schools in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Michigan, and elsewhere have instituted bans, following complaints from parents and students who find them offensive. When Cherokee high school in Georgia banned the shirts last fall,...

Several days ago a thread on this topic generated nearly 500 responses. It regarded the Christmas closing of a mall kiosk selling T Shirts bearing art work over the flag of the Confederacy. As you might imagine, in the past few days the conflict between Dixie Outfitters, an Odum, Georgia company and supplier to the kiosk that was closed in a mall in Mobile, Alabama, and the Corporate Mall giants CBL & Associates Properties, of Chattanooga, Tennessee and Colonial Properties Trust of Birmingham, Alabama , both publicly traded companies on the New York Stock Exchange, and responsible for the Mobile...

The manager of a Mobile mall has evicted a merchant selling clothing with Confederate battle flag designs, citing complaints from people angered by the merchandise. The merchant, Camo Unlimited, opened a kiosk in Colonial Mall Bel Air just after Thanksgiving. The Blountsville-based company sells Dixie Outfitters clothing at the Mobile mall and at other malls throughout the Southeast, owner Toby Smith said.Dixie Outfitters offers more than 600 designs with themes such as hunting, trucks and dogs, all including the stars and bars of the Confederate battle flag. The clothing line's "Legends of the Confederacy" series features generals and other leaders...