A Confederate battle flag is nothing new to the state of Arkansas, but across the U.S., it's become the target of controversy.
It started with the grisly shooting death of nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., on June 17. A 21-year-old man, Dylann Roof, reportedly confessed to authorities and was indicted for their murder, believed to be a racially-motivated hate crime.
Photos later released of Roof posing with the Confederate flag prompted South Carolina Gov. Nikki R. Haley to call for its removal from the State House grounds. South Carolina legislators now are deciding whether it should be removed permanently from state government property.
As for Arkansas, it's a different conversation concerning the tone and nature of the controversy. The Confederate flag doesn't fly at the state Capitol in Little Rock, nor does it on local government property in Baxter County.
Statewide response
In Mountain Home, Mayor Joe Dillard says you can find the U.S. flag, the state flag and a POW flag for military veterans.
"As far as I know, that flag has never been used in the public along here," said Dillard, whose lengthy political career includes serving as Baxter County judge from 1981-1993. "It has been used, and is being used, by the people who reenact the Civil War and those types of things.
"I've seen it a lot and I think it's pretty common here. As far as flying over public grounds, I don't recall that happening."
Statewide, two places where certain Confederate flag items have been removed are the Pea Ridge National Military Park and Fort Smith National Historic Site bookstores, according to National Park Service officials in Arkansas.
"We strive to tell the complete story of America," NPS Director Jonathan B. Jarvis said in June. "All sales items in parks are evaluated based on educational value and their connection to the park. Any stand-alone depictions of Confederate flags have no place in park stores."
Lisa Conard Frost, NPS superintendent at the Fort Smith Historic Site, said any Confederate flag item that could be taken out of "historical context" — basically, not serving a historical or educational purpose — was taken off shelves.
State flag link to Confederacy
While the Confederate flag isn't displayed on state Capitol grounds, the Arkansas state flag itself acknowledges participation in the Confederacy during the Civil War.
According to the Secretary of State, the state flag added a fourth blue star in 1923 to indicate that Arkansas had been a member of the Confederate States of America from 1861 to 1865.
Between the state and Confederate flags, private groups in Arkansas have held flag display rallies within the past few weeks, including Conway, Harrison, and most recently, Russellville. No such rally has been organized to date in Mountain Home since the start of the flag controversy.
"I don't see that flag in Arkansas as much as in other states, and it may be flying over courthouses in Arkansas that I'm not aware of, but we are going to stay with the American flag and the state flag and recognize our veterans with the POW (flag)," Dillard said of Mountain Home, adding that the Confederate flag is "a part of our history."
"I don't see that as an issue here like it is in some places."
Local SCV group preserving history
One local group is set on preserving the history of its ancestors, which includes the Confederate flag. They call themselves Sons of Confederate Veterans, based off the national organization in Columbia, Tenn. According to the SCV website, membership is "open to all male descendants of any veteran who served honorably in the Confederate armed forces."
SCV notes that it rejects any group whose actions "tarnish or distort" the image of the Confederate solider or his reasons for fighting — same goes for the Confederate flag.
"This is the battle flag, never adopted by the Confederate States of America at all," said Mountain Home attorney John Crain, 70, former commander of the local SCV group. "It was used by the soldiers as a battle flag to distinguish each other from battle.
PHOTOS: The confederate flag in Arkansas
"This one (flag) is the only one, to my understanding, that has been adopted by the radical groups — the white supremacists — which we are not."
"What has happened is you've got a lot of hate groups, the Klan people picking it up," added Kevin Bodenhamer, who serves as the current commander and also works as a history and civics teacher at Norfork schools. "We always have people that run in with them and it's like, that was not the purpose of the flag to be a racist symbol. You also see the Klan guys carrying around the American flag."
Bodenhamer and Crain also are members of Wiggins Battery. Crain says they portray their battery in the Civil War through reenactment "to give people a living history of what it actually looked like."
'Eye of the beholder'
As far as the Confederate battle flag goes, Crain says its symbolism is "in the eye of the beholder." People project different meanings onto it depending on their experiences — negative or positive.
Though the Confederate flag itself hasn't appeared on local government property, the first national flag of the Confederacy was flown once on the downtown square in Mountain Home during Confederate Veterans' Day in April, according to Crain.
Crain believes Confederate flags should remain on certain national historic sites, such as Gettysburg, though he does feel the battle flag doesn't need to be on all federal property, such as courthouses.
"Federal courthouses, I don't see any reason we should have a Confederate flag there, no," Crain said. "But the battlefields are something different. We need to preserve them the way they were."
The local SCV group also believes that the South should keep Confederate markers and monuments standing on public grounds. They hope the controversy doesn't come to that in Arkansas — or in any other state, for that matter — in order to remember all veterans, including those who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War.
"I hate to see any veteran be lost and their stories be lost or erased," Bodenhamer said. "As a historian, like I am, I hate to see them erase or try to reinterpret — take away the markers and monuments — because there were a lot of things that we did learn from the Civil War."
'Good for business'
Since the controversy began, one local store has cashed in on Confederate flag sales.
In Lakeview, David Alvirez owns PGW Collectibles, a retail store which also includes Hog Haven Leathers.
"We've always had the Stars and Bars here at the store," Alvirez said Monday, referring to the battle flag. The store is located alongside AR Highway 178 West.
Alvirez noted that the week the battle flag controversy started appearing in the news, the store was "slammed" with orders. PGW Collectibles sells Confederate flags and other items printed with the flag. Aside from flags, it also has motorcycles, leather clothing, collectibles, firearms, media, clothes, children's toys and more specialty items.
"We have about another 200 (flags) coming in. We have a waiting list of 35 people right now," he said. "We had one person say they would never step foot in the store again, but that was only on Facebook and they unfriended us. We have about 1,000 Facebook friends. That was the only negative comment."
Though PGW Collectibles has the flag for sale, it chooses not to fly it outside the store to avoid excluding other people, Alvirez said. Additionally, the store mistakenly received a shipment of the second national flag of the Confederacy, a flag Alvirez refuses to sell or display publicly due to its link with white supremacy.
Overall, Alvirez feels the store "has been fortunate" during the Confederate flag controversy.
"It's been good for business, but my primary rationale behind these is because I believe it is our right, our Freedom of Speech, and I quite frankly believe that the liberal media is trying to twist this and it's part of a progressive movement," Alvirez said.
