Steve Burns
WMAL.com
STAFFORD – (WMAL) The long-controversial Confederate flag that flies within view of drivers of Interstate 95 in Stafford County is back in residents’ crosshairs, as a parade of speakers at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors Meeting called on county lawmakers to find a way to either counter the flag’s message, or get it removed.
The enormous flag flies atop an 80-foot flagpole on private property near the highway. Numerous attempts at removing the flag have been unsuccessful, as Stafford officials have repeatedly upheld the land owner’s First Amendment right to fly it.
“Nothing says ‘Welcome to Stafford County’ like a giant Confederate flag flying over the interstate,” Stafford resident Edwin Santana said. He noted it sits on private property, but “Not everybody knows that. Not every resident knows that. Not every visitor that drives through knows that. Potentially, businesses that might want to move into our community might now know that.”
Falmouth resident Susan Cozier, who said she was “shocked” when she first saw the flag, proposed the county erect billboards on the highway to counter the flag “showing that (the county) welcomes and includes all people to the county.
“This is the first and often only view that passing motorists have of our county, and it’s outrageous,” she said.
Others proposed solutions to get the flag itself removed. Joe Mancini of Falmouth spoke about what he called a “zoning issue,” proposing the county enact a new law restricting the height of flag poles on residential property.
“90 feet for a residential flag pole seems to me to be excessive,” Mancini said. “This problem goes away if this board enacts regulations limiting flag pole heights on residential property to 12 feet.”
The Board did not take any official positions. WMAL’s calls to the flag’s owner were not returned.
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