Missouri's Confederate ties

To the editor:

Recently an individual suggested that that it was unpatriotic to display the Confederate battle flag. The Missouri Legislature passed an ordinance of secession in October 1861. The Confederate government admitted Missouri as its 12th state in November 1861. So any Confederate flag flying in Missouri is appropriate and proper.

The individual who claimed flying the Confederate flag was unpatriotic also suggested that the South, specifically southern bushwhackers, harmed civilians.

General Sherman once said: "There is a class of people (in the South), men, women and children, who must be killed or banished before you can hope for peace and order." Harry S. Truman, once stated: "But Quantrill and his men were no more bandits than the men on the other side. I've been to reunions of Quantrill's men two or three times. All they were trying to do was protect the property on the Missouri side of the line."

The person who suggested that Southerners are not patriots holds a view that is defined more by communism than a constitutional republic. After all, it was Karl Marx who once stated: "Take away a nation's heritage, and they are more easily persuaded."

I am a proud Southerner and Missourian and have every right both historically and constitutionally to celebrate and defend my heritage utilizing my First Amendment right to free speech.

I do this by proudly flying the Confederate battle flag in my front yard.

CLINT E. LACY, Vice Chairman, Missouri League of the South, Marble Hill, Mo.