Troopers can again display Mississippi flag(Way to go Haley)

Associated Press ^ | Published on: 02/04/04 | By SHELIA HARDWELL BYRD

[WKB]

JACKSON, Miss. -- The Mississippi Highway Patrol will lift its ban of Mississippi state flag decals on agency vehicles, said Public Safety Commissioner Rusty Fortenberry.

"It will be done in a way so there will be discretion for them to display the United States flag and the state flag. And it will be done in a way so that it will be uniform," Fortenberry told The Associated Press staff this week.

Mississippi Highway Patrol officers in 2000 were ordered to remove state flag tags and stickers from their cars. L.M. Claiborne, then the Highway Patrol chief, had applied the ban to all tags and decals during the first days of Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove's administration.

Claiborne, the first black chief of the Highway Patrol, said the ban on flags and decals was an attempt to have a uniform look for all Highway Patrol cars.

Some people find the Mississippi flag offensive because it prominently features a Confederate battle emblem, a symbol some see as a reminder of slavery and segregation.

Fortenberry said Republican Gov. Haley Barbour asked him to review the ban on state flags on patrol cars. Fortenberry said he is expecting a report from new Highway Patrol Chief Marvin Curtis and his assistant, Lt. Col. Donnell Berry.

"I don't want a situation where there may be a tag on the front and that tag may have a skull and cross bones on it," Fortenberry said.

Curtis said the agency has already ordered state flag and U.S. flag decals.

"We have not made a decision on where they will be placed," Curtis said.

Claiborne's ban in 2000 upset some troopers and lawmakers. It came before the 2001 referendum when voters overwhelmingly chose to keep the state flag instead of a new design that didn't have the Confederate X.

The move to restore the tags reflects voter opinion, said Sen. Sampson Jackson, D-DeKalb, chairman of the Public Property Committee.

"Whether I agree with them or not, it's the state flag. And the people voted back in the referendum for the state flag," Jackson said. "It does make it a little better by putting the United States flag alongside it."

Sen. Nickey Browning, D-Ecru, agreed.

"The people have spoken so we need to represent it wherever — whether it be on the Highway Patrol car or in our state buildings," Browning said.

Derrick Johnson, president of the Mississippi NAACP, said the Confederate battle emblem on the decals would be a reminder of slavery to some Mississippians.

"For African Americans in the state, that flag symbolizes a very painful past," Johnson said.

Barbour frequently wears a lapel pin with the United States and Mississippi flags. He wore the pin throughout the campaign last year, and some of Barbour's supporters put up signs that said, "Keep the Flag, Change the Governor" — criticism that was directed at Musgrove.

Barbour defeated Musgrove in November

[WKB]

Missippy ping

[ErnBatavia]

[cripplecreek]

I keep expecting a protest of our state flag as well. It has an image of a man holding a gun in one hand and that doesnt portray a politically correct image.

[onyx]

SEE! SEE WHY I ADORE HALEY?

[stainlessbanner]

the decals would be a reminder of slavery to some Mississippians.

Ignorance.

[vetvetdoug]

WTG!!!! The ban on the Flag on Patrol cars by the head State Trooper was a racist action by a leftist race baiting and race pandering administration.

[OPS4]

Freedom to express the majority decision. Way to Go, Ole Miss. is still a free state!
Ops4 God BLess America! Vote George W Bush Keep the Commies out!

[TedsGarage]

Someday, Mississippi will join the 20th Century. But it'll be the 22nd Century by then.

[reelfoot]

Mississippi BUMP.

[henderson field]

As far as that goes, the United States flag is a "reminder of slavery and segregation" to some people. So why don't we just get rid of that. And then there's the Constitution. It's old and out of date. Plus it's offensive to Marxists. Some people say it's our duty to keep the Marxists happy, whether they're black or white. And let's not forget the yellow ones.

[onyx]

Someday, Mississippi will join the 20th Century. But it'll be the 22nd Century by then.

Care to explain yourself from your lofty perch in Illinois?

[vetvetdoug]

You have been listening to Carol Mostly Brawn too long and beginning to believe the B.s. she regurgitates.

[WKB]

PING

[WKB]

Way to go VVD

[WKB]

Somebody needs to wake war Daddy up

[Constitution Day]

Ha!

Suck it up, South-bashers.

[onyx]

Somebody needs to wake War Daddy up.

You-Hoo, wardaddy!

[cripplecreek]

I dont need to be from the south to support the rights of you folks down there. i dont want anybody screwing with my flag either.

[WKB]

I dont need to be from the south to support the rights of you folks down there.


We appreciate all the help we can get down here
Thanks