Keating replaces historic flags with 14 Oklahoma flags

<br>OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ With no polls to worry about, outgoing Gov. Frank Keating is focusing on poles with his own solution to a long-standing controversy over which flags should fly at the Capitol.

Friday, November 29th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ With no polls to worry about, outgoing Gov. Frank Keating is focusing on poles with his own solution to a long-standing controversy over which flags should fly at the Capitol.

The fourteen poles at the Capitol's south plaza were initially intended for the flags of other nations or states that have claimed sovereignty over Oklahoma during the last 400 years. Some objected to the flying of the Confederate flag because of its ties to slavery and that pole has remained empty since the late 1980s.

Last month, as Oklahoma celebrated the opening of its Capitol dome, Keating had Oklahoma flags flown from all 14 poles. The governor said he's decided to keep them there through the last days of his term.

``Until I leave office as governor, I would like to have nothing but Oklahoma flags,'' Keating said. ``Let's leave up those wonderful, blue flags for Governor-elect Brad Henry's inauguration, and then he and the next Legislature can wrestle with the issue of that empty flag pole.''

State lawmakers ordered all of Oklahoma's previous governments and occupiers, including the Confederate States of America, be represented on the flagpoles. However, former Gov. Henry Bellmon decided in 1989 to leave empty the third pole from the end on the plaza's east side. Bellmon said the Legislature did not specify which of seven possible Confederate flags should be used.

Former Gov. David Walters tried unsuccessfully to find a solution.

Keating says he remembers the controversy, but says it does not have much to do with his decision to fly the state flags.

``This is the ultimate statement in pride for the state of Oklahoma,'' Keating said. ``Let us elevate, lift up and celebrate our state everywhere we can. I think they look spectacular.''