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Lawyers: Settlement near in challenge to school's Rebel flag ban
FIRST AMENDMENT FREEDOM FORUM.ORG ^ | 09.12.02 | The Associated Press

Posted on 09/13/2002 10:16:48 AM PDT by stainlessbanner

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Just before the trial was to begin over a teenager who was suspended from high school for wearing a T-shirt bearing the image of the Confederate flag, lawyers told the court they were about to settle the case.

An order filed Sept. 10 in U.S. District Court in Lexington revealed the settlement. Lawyers would not discuss details, but said it should be made final within 30 days.

"I don't want to upset any apple carts," explained attorney Kirk David Lyons of the Southern Legal Resource Center in North Carolina, a nonprofit group devoted to protecting the civil rights of people involved in Southern-heritage issues.

He represents Timothy Castorina, who was the only remaining plaintiff in the First Amendment lawsuit. Initially, his friend Tiffany Dargavell was also a party, but she dropped out of the fight after the suit was dismissed and before it was reinstated by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Castorina and Dargavell wore "Southern Thunder" T-shirts to Madison Central High School Sept. 17, 1997, to commemorate what would have been Hank Williams Sr.'s 74th birthday. The school's principal at the time, William Fultz, ordered the pair to turn the shirts inside out or change. The flag image, Fultz said, violated the school dress code that prohibited anything with an "illegal, immoral or racist implication."

Castorina, then a junior, and Dargavell, a freshman, refused to cooperate, and their parents took an equally stubborn line, saying black students wore Malcolm X shirts and were never ordered to change. The students were suspended for three days and returned to school in the same shirts, prompting a second suspension from which they never returned. Instead, they were home-schooled.

During its first go-round in U.S. District Court, Judge Henry Wilhoit Jr. ruled that T-shirts were not a form of speech and threw out the case. But a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit found he had erred and ordered a trial held.

According to documents in the court record, Madison Central was concerned about the Confederate flag, Malcolm X and many other T-shirts whose messages could offend. The school suffered from racial strife, according to Fultz and other administrators, and the trouble manifested itself in racist graffiti and three fights.

Castorina and Dargavell, however, denied that the school was marred by racial strife. In a sworn statement, Castorina said he suspected such claims were "a deliberate attempt on the part of the administration to make race relations appear worse then they were."

 

Previous

Federal appeals panel reinstates student's suit over suspension for Rebel flag shirt
Judges say school’s enforcement of dress code policy ‘gives the appearance of a targeted ban.’ 03.13.01

Related

Georgia school district's anti-Confederate symbol policy stands for now
ACLU, students claim ban on clothing 'that might be offensive to others' is overly broad. 07.26.01

Louisiana student threatens to sue over Confederate-symbol ban
Parents say school violated boy’s free-speech rights by sending him home for wearing Rebel flag T-shirt. 05.07.01


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: confederate; dixie; dixielist; flag; heritage; honor; jebbushsucks; proud; rebel; sacred; symbol; votemcbride
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1 posted on 09/13/2002 10:16:49 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
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To: STONEWALLS; strela; Maelstrom; proudofthesouth; timberwolf630; Bandolier; shuckmaster; ...
Anyone know the scoop on the settlement? Curious to know the details and motivation.
2 posted on 09/13/2002 10:18:41 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
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To: stainlessbanner
"The students were suspended for three days and returned to school in the same shirts, prompting a second suspension from which they never returned. Instead, they were home-schooled."

Probably the best decision to come out of this yet.

3 posted on 09/13/2002 10:24:34 AM PDT by sweetliberty
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To: stainlessbanner
Caps memorializing a black pimp who preached very very vitriolic anti-white messages and bragged of beating his whores until he found Allah in the peaceful embrace of Islam(barf) and was then gunned down by his psuedo-Muslim brothers for said "offense" is a-ok with this school but a Confederate Battle flag emblem is not?

What naive uninformed idiots!
4 posted on 09/13/2002 10:33:49 AM PDT by wardaddy
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To: stainlessbanner
My youngest wore one of her "Dixie Outfitters" shirts to school today.

During its first go-round in U.S. District Court, Judge Henry Wilhoit Jr. ruled that T-shirts were not a form of speech and threw out the case.

Let me get this straight, Burning the US flag is a form of free-speech. Nude dancing and pornography are considered free-speech. Promoting gay/lesbian relations and education in our schools is free-speech. Requiring the Koran and Islam to be taught in school is considered free-speech.

But wearing the confederate flag, promoting the Boy Scouts, teaching the Bible, or saying a Christian prayer is not?

5 posted on 09/13/2002 10:46:09 AM PDT by 4CJ
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To: wardaddy
Caps memorializing a black pimp who preached very very vitriolic anti-white messages and bragged of beating his whores until he found Allah in the peaceful embrace of Islam(barf) and was then gunned down by his psuedo-Muslim brothers for said "offense" is a-ok with this school but a Confederate Battle flag emblem is not?

How is pimping girls better than selling someone on the block? That was a common practice in the so-called CSA.

Walt

6 posted on 09/13/2002 10:57:47 AM PDT by WhiskeyPapa
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To: WhiskeyPapa
Please document the "common" slave auctions during the years of the Northern invasion. The South was rather busy protecting their homeland and repulsing the invaders at the time.
7 posted on 09/13/2002 11:16:21 AM PDT by JD86
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To: stainlessbanner
Observers note: Kirk Lyons was Andre Strassmeir's attorney from OKC bombing fame.
8 posted on 09/13/2002 11:20:36 AM PDT by JohnGalt
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To: JohnGalt
What does this mean? Please explain.
9 posted on 09/13/2002 11:38:51 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
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To: stainlessbanner
"I don't want to upset any apple carts," explained attorney Kirk David Lyons of the Southern Legal Resource Center in North Carolina, a nonprofit group devoted to protecting the civil rights of people involved in Southern-heritage issues.

This article is giving free publicity to Mr. Lyons (a self-proclaimed white seperatist), who apparently has added the David to his name.

Kirk Lyons represented Andre Strassmeir, a German national, who was head of security at racist camp at Elohmin City. On the day of the Oklahoma City bombing, Lyons' office received phone calls from one, Tim McVeigh; no one is quite 'sure' how he got the phone number. Regardless of the merits of this particular case, Mr. Lyons has an agenda that the AP was too lazy to mention. Many believe that Andre Strassmeir was a government mole, brought in from overseas to keep an eye on the US "far right." (Also see the case of the Arizona Vipers, 1995-96.)

There is a lot more to this Lyons character (he worked with ultra-leftist Ramsey Clark on the Branch Davidian lawsuit against the government) but I suggest a Google search, "Kirk Lyons Andre Strassmeir" as a start. But anytime I see Lyons name next to anything I feel a little sick.

10 posted on 09/13/2002 11:50:20 AM PDT by JohnGalt
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To: JohnGalt
This article is giving free publicity to Mr. Lyons

Maybe/Maybe Not! The article was intended to be about protecting the CBF, not Lyons. I know Lyons is a controversial figure. Care to comment on his "motive" for defending this case?

Did you mean the case is giving free publicity to Lyons, rather than the article?

11 posted on 09/13/2002 11:58:55 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
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To: stainlessbanner
From the previous article:

                        The 6th Circuit panel ruled that the actions of Madison County High School officials gave "the
                        appearance of a targeted ban" because other students were allowed to wear clothing with the
                        "X" symbol.

That should be enough to decide the verdict.

12 posted on 09/13/2002 12:07:20 PM PDT by gcruse
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To: wardaddy
 
What naive uninformed idiots!

You give idiocy too much credit.
These administrators know what they
are going.  It is blatant discrimination
and everyone knows.

13 posted on 09/13/2002 12:09:23 PM PDT by gcruse
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To: stainlessbanner
His motive is to raise funds for himself and increase his standing with a group he hopes to gain political power through. He tried to become head of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans recently so I figure his motive should be very clear.
14 posted on 09/13/2002 12:12:16 PM PDT by JohnGalt
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To: WhiskeyPapa
I thought our sensitivities have progressed since the early to mid 1800s Walt but apparently you desire to profess a moral relativism between the two eras. Fine with me.

If pimping and beating women is ok behavior for your hero in our modern era then please by all means indulge your adulation.


"A Malcolm X the wonderful and benevolent BUMP" to Walt personally.

Do you keep ol Malcolm on your wall alnong with the esteemed Kennedy brothers as well.....probably along with Sherman too. I bet Butler is your personal fav. Given his harsh treatment of New Orleans women and your easy grasp of moral relativity.

Oh...lest I forget....Yes ...Slavery was a nasty thing. I'm glad it exists as a rationale for folks like you to excuse all sorts of deviant behavior today as irrelevant.

Warm Regards....you are consistent in your delusions.
15 posted on 09/13/2002 12:26:10 PM PDT by wardaddy
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To: gcruse
Yes....one man's discrimination is I suppose liberating to the "easily offended". BTW, Have I said Slavery was bad yet?
16 posted on 09/13/2002 12:30:39 PM PDT by wardaddy
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To: wardaddy
I wonder if you misunderstood my post, because
yours makes no sense to me at all.
17 posted on 09/13/2002 12:37:35 PM PDT by gcruse
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To: JohnGalt
I don't know much about Mr Lyons. Maybe he is a horrible fellow BUT at least someone is willing to stand up for freedom of expression even if it is offensive to some sensititve souls or the rules governing the expression are unevenly applied.

This Lyons fellow would appear to be literally all over the political map.

I don't care much for Ron Kuby but I confess I could see hiring him in certain cases.

My real issue with lawyers is not so much with the political showdogs as with the large tort firms.
18 posted on 09/13/2002 12:41:37 PM PDT by wardaddy
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To: wardaddy
If pimping and beating women is ok behavior for your hero in our modern era then please by all means indulge your adulation.

I didn't endorse or condone Malcolm X's pimping. I asked how that was worse than selling people on the block as chattel slaves. Your dishonesty s showing.

Walt

19 posted on 09/13/2002 12:42:11 PM PDT by WhiskeyPapa
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To: wardaddy
He is a huckster who ditched the "militant neo-Nazi movement" when the Patriot movement suspected that the neo-Nazis had something to do with the OKC bombing.

Mahon also admits his close friendship with German soldier Andreas Strassmeir, whom Tim McVeigh telephoned at Elohim City before the Oklahoma City bombing. It is Mahon and Strassmeir who Carol Howe, the "key" informant for the FBI and ATF at Elohim City, insists are the prime suspects in the OKC bombing. Strassmeir, who was living in the U.S. illegally, was spirited out of the U.S. through Mexico several months after the bombing by attorney Kirk Lyons, a legal activist for racists and militant national socialists. On July 13, 1997 the Dublin Sunday Times reported that Strassmeir had moved to Dublin and was associating with Sinn Fein, the political arm of the IRA. Earlier, informant Carol Howe had reported that Strassmeir had received detonators for the OKC explosive charges from his IRA blasting buddies. Completely independent of Howe, federal informant Cary Gagan had stated (in July of 1995) that he had met in Mexico City with his Middle Eastern bombing co-conspirators — and a "former" member of the IRA who was providing expertise and detonators for the planned bombing operations in the U.S.

My ancestors fought in the Army of Northern Virginia and I support Confederate preservation and any iconoclast who will take on Lincoln, but Lyons is a huckster and should be jettisoned from the cause.

20 posted on 09/13/2002 12:47:07 PM PDT by JohnGalt
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