Confederate Flag Causing Controversy At Cemetery
Veterans Wants To Put Flag On William Harvey’s Grave
Deb Stanley, 7NEWS ProducerMay 25, 2011
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — Plans to put a Confederate flag on a gravesite at the Steamboat Springs Cemetery are causing some controversy.
Confederate States of America flags have been placed for years on the graves of two Civil War veterans buried at Hayden Cemetery, according to the Steamboat Today newspaper. This would likely be the first time a Confederate flag has been placed at the Steamboat Springs Cemetery.
Two veterans told Routt County commissioners they want to put the flag on the grave of William E. Harvey. Harvey’s gravestone says he killed 56 bears in Routt County, but an old article said he was also a Confederate soldier.
"He was a veteran; he fought; he was a soldier, and I think he needs to be recognized for doing that," cemetery board member and veteran Jim Stanko told the newspaper. "I hope it doesn’t cause anything. I hope people finally realize that here was a soldier that fought for a cause that he believed in, and he needs to be recognized for that stand."
"Although some people say that the Confederate flag is a symbol of Southern heritage and of Southern culture and an embracing of that, … I and the Colorado Springs branch of the NAACP do not see it that way," said Rosemary Harris Lytle, president of the Colorado Springs chapter of the NAACP. "We see the Confederate flag as a symbol of the past that should stay in the past."
© 2011, McGraw-Hill Broadcasting Company.
On The Web: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/28022158/detail.html