![A Confederate battle flag flies on private property adjacent to I-95 in Stafford County, Va., in this Facebook photo from the Confederate heritage group Virginia Flaggers. (Virginia Flaggers/Facebook) [https://www.facebook.com/378823865585630/photos/a.384742074993809.1073741829.378823865585630/1111239069010769/?type=3&theater]](https://twt-thumbs.washtimes.com/media/image/2017/09/27/confederatebattleflag_c0-108-720-527_s885x516.jpg?35cb72c05c9d9d44b1063c2f5d0c0c33b8f7df65)
A group of Virginia residents upset by a large Confederate battle flag’s display on private land adjoining Interstate 95 are taking the property owner before local zoning officials, claiming he’s violating a local ordinance that forbids roadside advertising, WTOP Radio reported Tuesday.
Patricia Healy, the attorney for the residents, says the banner effectively acts as an advertisement for the group Virginia Flaggers, a Confederate heritage organization dedicated to preserving war memorials and the flying of the battle flag. Virginia Flaggers is currently leasing the flag site from its owner, Hubert Wayne Cash, until 2024, WTOP said.
“The Property Owner and Virginia Flaggers, LLC have every right to use their Property and express their views as they see fit, as long as they meet the same standards are everyone else,” Ms. Healy wrote in the filing. “Stafford County needs to take immediate action to compel the flag to be rebuilt in order that it is no higher than permitted under the sign regulations.”
While the text of the ordinance carves out an exception for “flags of any nation, state, or other geopolitical entity,” Ms. Healy argues that the Confederate battle flag doesn’t meet the definition.
“An entity that sought to establish existence over 150 years ago and does not exist today cannot be defined as any nation, state, or other geopolitical entity,” Ms. Healy wrote, according to WTOP.
The flag has been flying on the site, and stoking controversy, since the spring of 2014, according to WTOP, and ever since Stafford County officials have repeatedly said the First Amendment rights of the property owner preclude them from taking any action on the matter.
Should the zoning-board appeal fail, Confederate flag foes may have a plan B in the works: flying their own banners in protest, perhaps a Gay Pride or Black Lives Matter flag, activist Susan Kosior said, WTOP reported.
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