CONFEDERATE FLAG: “take it down” and “racist” spray painted on the base of the pole’

From a press release: 

The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a report of vandalism involving a flag pole that flies a large Confederate flag on private property near Interstate 95 in the Falmouth area.  

On Sunday, October 1, 2017 at approximately 4:00pm, Deputy George Motley was called to the property and observed “take it down” and “racist” spray painted on the base of the pole. The rope used to hoist the flag was also damaged and rendered useless. It appears there may have been an attempt to remove the plaque on the pole that reads “Virginia.”

The landowner, Hubert Cash, informed the deputy that the pole is owned by the Virginia Flaggers organization and he had agreed to have the flag and pole on his property. The property line and pole itself feature a number of no-trespassing signs.  

Cash told the deputy he first noticed the damage at approximately 3:00pm that day and the last time he had seen the pole undamaged was on September 24, 2017. He said he is unaware of who caused the damage, but knows there are a lot of people who do not like the flag.

The flag and the 80-foot pole on which is attached has been at the center of a debate among Stafford County residents since the United the Right protest in Charlottesville on Aug. 12. 

Many residents have called on county officials to remove the flag or to pass new rules limiting the height of flagpoles in the county. 

Late last month, Stafford County Attorney Charles Shumate said the flag was on private property, was permitted by the county, and that the county’s Board of Supervisors had no right to forcibly remove the flag. Any restrictions on flagpoles, he added, would not apply to the flag as it would be grandfathered.

We reported this morning that a Stafford County woman also won approval from the county to erect a similar 80-foot flagpole on which, she says, she will erect a “Black Lives Matter” flag.