Confederate flag to hang at City Hall in Belleview

BELLEVIEW, Fla. — A small Marion County town plans to fly a Confederate flag at City Hall this week for Confederate History Day.

Town officials in Belleview said they've heard no complaints from residents who find the flag objectionable.

The flag will be raised to half-staff Wednesday as part of a ceremony by a local chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Charles Kadel is part of the Florida chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and said he has flown the flag on Confederate History Day outside City Hall for 10 years.

“People say it’s a racist flag, but again, people fought for their homes at that time,” he said. “They want to do away with all of our monuments and the flags today, you know, they have been attacking the flag for years.”

Some in the community don’t see it that way.

Francine Julius Edwards, who co-founded the Bridges Project in Ocala, has been fighting since 2015 to have the flags removed from public buildings.

“We try to educate the community that this flag is oppressive, that there is nothing good that can come out of this flag, that it needs to be rolled up and put into the history cooks,” she said.

Belleview, a town of about 5,000 residents, is located about 70 miles northwest of Orlando.

The Confederate flag is offensive to many African Americans, and its hanging at government buildings has been the subject of intense debate.

The mayor said they have never had any issues with allowing the organization to fly the flag on Confederate History Day.

“They focus on the fact that it’s to honor the Confederate soldiers who died ,” said Mayor Christine Dobkowski. “There has never been any racial undertones to the request, so we have always just approves it in honor of those Confederate soldiers.”

WFTV