Virginia Group Says Applications Up Since Confederate Plates Allowed

AP via TBO ^ | 7/8/02 | Maria Sanminiatelli

[Jean S]

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Virginia chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans says it is seeing a surge of applications for membership since it won a court fight to put the Rebel flag on state license plates.

Only descendants of Confederate veterans are eligible for the specialty license plates.

The Virginia chapter said membership applications have tripled since the state dropped its three-year court fight against the logo earlier this year.

The group's state commander, Brag Bowling, said the flurry of applications also is typical of every time the Sons of Confederate Veterans are involved in a public squabble.

"People don't like to hear that their heritage is less meaningful than anyone else's," Bowling said. "It makes people mad, and that helps our organization grow."

The group sued Virginia in 1999 after state lawmakers approved a specialty license plate for the organization but refused to allow the group's logo, which features a Confederate flag. Some legislators said the flag represents bigotry.

However, a federal judge ruled last year that Virginia's refusal to issue the tag amounted to discrimination. The ruling was upheld on appeal.

A spokeswoman with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles said the agency had issued 550 of the plates as of July 2.

Jeff Ellett's new Confederate license plates have been on his red and gray Dodge pickup for about three weeks.

"I've had people at work, or on the street, or in shopping centers ask about it," he said. "Now it has caused some of these people to say, 'Let me see if I have any Confederate ancestors, so I can get the plates.'"

Owen Yates was one of the first to put in for the plates, even before the issue was settled in the courts. He enclosed them in a locking plastic holder to keep them safe.

"I'm proud of my ancestors; they fought for the state," said Yates, a group member who works as a consultant at the DuPont plant south of Richmond. "It was a different time. People had lots of loyalty for the states."

He added: "But then, I'm from the old school. I want to go back to the '50s, when I didn't know we had a racial problem."

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On the Net:

Sons of Confederate Veterans: http://www.vascv.org

AP-ES-07-08-02 1553EDT

[Ligeia]

To view the innocuous plate, click here, then select "Sons of Confederate Veterans." Hard to believe its creation has caused such a stir over the past few years.

[Rebelo3]

You can learn about Jewish Confedrates at this site:

http://www.Jewish-history.com/civilwar.htm

[PoisedWoman]

I wonder whether I can get Confederate license plates in WA state. LOL. Actually, I think I'm entitled to them. And a DAR bumper sticker too.

[Corin Stormhands]

I was planning on getting the lighthouse and Jamestown plates, but I may have to reconsider...I've not joined the group, but I am a son of the Confederacy.

[stand watie]

we southrons had MANY Jewish hero-martyrs that wore the GRAY!

for dixie,sw

[stand watie]

very true! damnyankees and their PC-copies have ever been DUMB!

for dixie,sw

[Ligeia]

Confederate flag waves on license plates
By PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, The Virginian-Pilot
© July 13, 2002

SUFFOLK -- Vehicle by vehicle, the Confederate battle flag is joining the ranks of Harley Davidson wings and Lions Club shields on Virginia license plates, sparking little public debate.

After a three-year court battle, some members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans are proudly displaying plates with a small Confederate flag logo on a shadowy background of three Confederate horsemen.

Similar license plates bearing the Confederate flag have already been available in other states, including Maryland and North Carolina.

In Virginia, a spokesman for the Department of Motor Vehicles said about 550 people have added $10 to their vehicle registration fee to own the special plate. Only certified SCV members qualify, and applicants must show proof of membership.

So far, reaction to the plate has been either positive or neutral, said Bill Richardson, commander of the SCV Tom Smith Camp in Suffolk. A few days after attaching one to his vehicle, Richardson sat at an intersection in Norfolk, looking in his rearview mirror.

``This guy behind me bails out of his truck and comes running up and taps on my window,'' he said, then admitted he was relieved to learn the stranger was an SCV member from North Carolina.

``He was just happy to see my plate, the first Virginia SCV plate he had seen,'' Richardson said.

Not everyone feels the same way.

``I have yet to see one, but I will let my eyes tell me how I feel -- if I can live peacefully with them,'' said T.C. Williams of Suffolk. The 82-year-old is president of the Rosemont-Lloyd Place Civic League and a member of the NAACP.

``The controversy has come and gone,'' said Pam Goheen, deputy director of public relations for the Department of Motor Vehicles. ``Now we are merely administering the code of Virginia, and, so far, we have had no complaints.''

While some of Virginia's 180 specialty plates are revenue-sharing -- with some of the proceeds benefiting the sponsoring group -- the SCV receives no revenue from its plates.

Brad Bowling, commander of the Virginia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said the special tags are an effective recruiting tool. He's received 15 to 20 calls a day about them and SCV membership.

``As people see how benign the plates are, we are getting more calls,'' he said.

Currently, Virginia's SCV membership stands at about 3,200; international membership is about 30,000.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans, a heritage group founded in 1896 to honor Confederate soldiers, sailors and history, first sought General Assembly approval for the plate in 1999. Opponents argued that the Ku Klux Klan and similar white supremacy groups had used the Confederate battle flag as a symbol of hate and that the flag was racially divisive.

In April, with the support of the Rutherford Institute, an international civil liberties group based in Charlottesville, the Sons of Confederate Veterans won a federal appeals court decision overruling an earlier court decision that banned the flag from the license plates. A U.S. District judge said the refusal to issue the plate violated the SCV's right to free speech.

``It is appropriate to honor the desire of those who want a license plate honoring the Confederacy because it is more divisive to deny it,'' said Diane Snowa of Suffolk, pastor of the Portsmouth Congregational Christian United Church of Christ, a multiracial congregation.

``The bottom line is education and rational responses to an emotional time in our history that continues to ignite.''

Reach Phyllis Speidell at 483-9161 or pspeidel@pilotonline.com
http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw0713tag.html

Related thread: Confederate plates win drivers' attention
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/713144/posts