WASHINGTON 鈥� A聽huge Confederate flag聽can continue flying 80 feet above Interstate 95 in Stafford County after officials dismissed an appeal to have it deemed unlawful.
Stafford County’s Board of Zoning Appeals declined to consider a request to聽have the flag declared an unlawfully large sign on Tuesday.
Clark Leming represents Patricia Joshi and Thomas Jones, who brought the appeal to the board. He said the flag affects his clients’ quality of life.
“It’s a threat and it’s intimidating,” Leming said.
The lawyer also said the owner of the property on which the flag is planted demonstrated racial bias, and the聽supports white supremacists.
If the board had taken the case, however, the flag’s owners might have argued that it is exempt from a local rule that limits sign size because it is the symbol of a state.
But Leming said the Confederacy is no longer a state, and it should not be protected by zoning rules.
“We don’t believe that the Confederacy is a geopolitical entity under the meaning of the ordinance,”聽Leming said.
And even if the Confederacy were a state,聽Leming said the well-known flag flown under聽Robert E. Lee was not one of the officially used by the Confederate States Of America.
Leming said he may聽ask Stafford Circuit Court聽to force聽the Board of Zoning Appeals to consider his clients’ complaint.
