Miss. flag initiative cleared for vote once signature requirement met

JACKSON, Miss. - A judge ruled Monday that Mississippi voters should be allowed to decide whether the embattled state flag, which incorporates the Confederate battle banner, stays or goes.

The question could be on a statewide ballot in 2002, Hinds County Circuit Judge Swan Yerger said Monday.

Flag opponents, who say the Confederate banner is a racist symbol, were looking to Gov. Ronnie Musgrove's 17-member commission to propose alternative designs and called the ruling unfortunate.

''Gov. Musgrove has put into motion a process by which people can talk about this business of the flag without it becoming a simple thumbs up, thumbs down proposition,'' said Richard Howorth, a bookstore owner in Oxford who had challenged the initiative as unconstitutional

Flag supporters said the judge's decision is a victory for the democratic process and Southern heritage.

''If you don't like the flag the way it is, or if you do like the flag, you'll get to vote on it,'' said Greg Stewart, an attorney and member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who sought to place the issue before voters.

The question he wants asked on the ballot: Should ''the flag adopted in 1894 and used continuously thereafter be the official state flag.''

Stewart and initiative backers still must get the signatures of about 90,000 registered voters to place the measure on the ballot.

Attorney General Mike Moore said gaining those signatures could be a major challenge for initiative supporters, saying ''it's a pretty high mark.''

The governor's commission still plans to recommend to the Legislature whether the flag should be changed. Its public hearings to gauge citizens' views on the flag began last week in Tupelo, where sentiment was overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the flag.

Other Southern states have also had flag controversies. There have been protests in Georgia over the Rebel flag's inclusion in that state's flag, and boycotts were held in South Carolina before leaders agreed to remove a Confederate flag from atop the Statehouse.

---

On the Net:

State of Mississippi: http://www.state.ms.us/