Lawmaker planning to introduce Confederate flag legislation

<br>OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ An Oklahoma lawmaker plans to introduce legislation that would allow the Confederate States of America flag to fly on state Capitol grounds. <br><br>State Rep. Wayne Pettigrew

Wednesday, January 8th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ An Oklahoma lawmaker plans to introduce legislation that would allow the Confederate States of America flag to fly on state Capitol grounds.

State Rep. Wayne Pettigrew said Tuesday that the flag should fly alongside 13 others representing nations and states that have claimed sovereignty over all or part of Oklahoma during the past 400 years.

Cherokee Indians carried the flag while fighting for the Confederacy during the Civil War, Pettigrew, R-Edmond, said.

The 14 poles are in two semicircles that shoulder two taller flag poles, which fly an Oklahoma flag and the American flag.

The one pole reserved for the Confederate flag has stood empty since the late 1980s. Oklahoma governors at the time refused to fly a Confederate flag.

State legislators directed how the poles should be used in a joint resolution passed in the late 1980s as the plaza underwent a restoration. Black lawmakers objected, and then-Gov. Henry Bellmon decided in 1989 to leave the pole empty.

Bellmon said he would leave the pole vacant because the Legislature failed to specify which of seven possible Confederate flags should be used. Former Gov. David Walters' administration couldn't resolve the dispute, either.

Gov. Frank Keating said in December he would like to fly only Oklahoma flags from the smaller poles after dedication of the Capitol dome.

Keating ordered the existing 13 flags be removed and replaced with state flags because he thought the plaza looked unfinished with one vacant pole.

After the Nov. 16 dedication, workers replaced the Oklahoma flags on the 14 poles with the flags that normally flew from them.

Pettigrew said he wants to restore the use of the 14 poles to what the Legislature intended when it passed its 1980s resolution.

``I hope this bill helps (state leaders) avoid future mistakes regarding which flags should be flown,'' he said.

The flags include the Royal Standard of Spain, the Great Union of Great Britain, the Royal Standard of France, the Bourbon Standard of the Spanish Empire, the Standard of the French Republic, the Star Spangled Banner of the United States and Old Glory of the United States.

The other flags are the Republic of Mexico, the Republic of Texas, Lone Star Flag of Texas, the Choctaw Nation, the Flag of the Confederate States of America, the first flag of the state of Oklahoma and the state of Oklahoma flag adopted by the Legislature in 1925.