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Rebel Flag Aims To Boost Park
Tribune photo by JULIE BUSCH
On Sunday, the Confederate veterans group raised a 30-by-60-foot flag, replacing the 30-by-50-foot flag that has been flying since June 3, next to the I-75 bridge over U.S. 92.
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Published: October 14, 2008
TAMPA - A new, larger Confederate flag flying at the junction of interstates 4 and 75 will be like "lipstick on a pretty woman," attracting more attention to a memorial park at the flag's base, the property owner said Monday.
"If we can get more people with a bigger flag ... if we can make the national news again with a bigger flag, so be it," said Marion Lambert, owner of the property and an officer with the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
The flag, on a 139-foot-high flag pole, caused an uproar when it was first raised. Some local politicians and business leaders worried the flag would tar Hillsborough County with the stain of racism and intolerance.
Lambert and other supporters, however, say the message of the flag and memorial park is that Southern veterans of the Civil War should be remembered with the same reverence as American veterans of other wars.
Lambert said he expects the flag to keep flying unless someone can convince him of a good reason to take it down. So far, it has generated only scattered opposition.
Michelle Williams, who once brandished a noose at a county commission meeting to show her opposition to the flag, said she was disappointed more black pastors and other community leaders did not organize protests against the flag. Williams said she is now meeting with Lambert to work out some kind of compromise.
"What else can I do except to sit down and talk with Mr. Lambert and talk with the gentlemen of the SCV and say, 'Can we just raise the flag on certain days?'" she said. "That's all I want to see come out of it."
Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303.
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