A confederate flag raised over the Marshall County courthouse, sparking controversy and nationwide attention, is coming down.
Marshall County Judge-Executive Kevin Neal in a Facebook post Friday said “neither the Union nor Confederate flag will be flown on the Courthouse grounds.”
Neal said he made a decision to take the flag down on Friday after hearing from constituents raising concerns, or expressing support, regarding the confederate flag.
“Many of you have expressed that the Courthouse grounds should not be a place for this flag display. I intend to ask the Fiscal Court to write policies regarding the Courthouse grounds and properties,” Neal said. “The intent in displaying these flags was never to offend anyone, although many expressed this was the unintended effect. We value the thoughts and opinions of our citizens when dealing with controversial issues which has led us to taking down the flags today and letting the Fiscal Court discuss the proper location.”
Neal said some have suggested a veterans plaza in Mike Miller County Park is a more appropriate place to honor Civil War veterans. The flag was originally donated by the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), with support for the display from Neal and First District County Commissioner Justin Lamb.
Lamb had previously told WKMS the confederate flag represented the sacrifice made by ancestors of county residents in the Civil War. The county had also paid for materials to have a pole erected to display the flag, and a surveillance camera already owned by the county was installed by their IT department to monitor the flag.
The flag drew coverage from national outlets, and prompted a response from Kentucky’s branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), expressing opposition to the flag being raised.
Neal and Lamb did not immediately respond for comment.
(This story first ran on WKMS, the public radio station at Murray State University.)
Liam Niemeyer is a reporter for the Ohio Valley Resource covering agriculture and infrastructure in Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia and also serves Assistant News Director at WKMS. He has reported for public radio stations across the country from Appalachia to Alaska, most recently as a reporter for WOUB Public Media in Athens, Ohio. He is a recent alumnus of Ohio University and enjoys playing tenor saxophone in various jazz groups.
