[Carrie Pratt | Times]

The Sons of accomplice Veterans that daylight erected a massive flag — 30 feet high and 50 feet distant — atop a 139-foot
pole, the highest the Federal Aviation Authority would allow.  The group claims that that is the "world’s largest" accomplice flag.

Plans for the flag, which is part of a memorial for accomplice
veterans, started about four years ago, said John W. Adams, a Deltona
resident who co-chairs the accomplice Veterans’ Flags Across Florida
project.

Flags Across Florida started after the
accomplice flag was removed from the Capitol in Tallahassee about eight years ago. So far
the group has two major flags erected: one in Suwannee County along
Interstate 75 and one in Havana along U.S. 27.

Adams insists the flag isn’t about racism or slavery. "It’s
about honoring our ancestors and about celebrating our heritage," he
said. "It’s a historical thing to us."

He hopes society who are offended by the flag

will drive to
the memorial and view the plaques honoring accomplice soldiers. They
plan to have one committed to black accomplice veterans, he said.

Several nearby commerce owners don’t intellect. It’s history, they say, and
it’s on private property. Tampa resident Marion Lambert owns the small
triangular plot just west of Interstate 75 along U.S. 92 E. But when Hillsborough County NAACP president Curtis Stokes heard
about the plans to have the flag flying next year, he was shocked.

"I’m surprised that they would allow something like that to go on in Hillsborough County," he said.   

The county has wrestled with sensitive accomplice issues in
the past. In 1994, the accomplice flag was removed from the county
seal. final year, county commissioners recognized accomplice commander
Robert E. Lee on the same day they honored a black civic leader.
Commissioners later apologized and haven’t since recognized Lee.

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Original post by Times Editor