Confederate Flag Spotted On Local Roads Sparks Controversy

SOUTHOLD, NY — During a time when the nation stands divided and torn over recent violence in Charlottesville, the sight of a Confederate flag displayed on a truck driven on the North Fork has sparked fierce debate.

The debate continued at Tuesday night's Southold Town Board meeting when Matthew Bloch, of East Marion, said he'd seen the truck with a "huge Confederate flag flying" in the parking lot at the town beach.

"While I acknowledge that the Constitution gives people the right to do what they want, I don't think it applies to people doing the same in public places," he said.

Southold Town code, he says, regulates speeches made in town-owned or public spaces. He said while it made him both "mad and sad" to see that Confederate flag flying, he brought the issue to the town board to consider clarifying whether flying the flag, without a permit, would be allowed at local beaches.

And, he asked, if a person did not have a permit, could beach attendants subsequently turn the person away.

"It may be legal to go up and down the roads with a Confederate flag, but it doesn't make it right," he said.

Bloch asked the board to reflect and make a public statement that while they "cherish" the right of a person to fly a flag, they "don't agree what it stands for."

Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said while he recognizes what it stands for, "some of the rhetoric over the last week or so" has sparked the need to look carefully at Constitutional issues.

"We need to make civil liberties our first priority," Russell said. "Too many people died defending them, and we owe it to them to protect those civil liberties."

He added, "One of the goals of the neo-Nazis is to strip us of our civil liberties — and we're better than them. I don't think we should give in to emotions. Once we lose those civil liberties we''ll never get them back."

Bloch said he wasn't suggesting that anyone be stripped of civil liberties but said as an inclusive community, someone needed to stand up and speak out about what the flag was a symbol of, and whether "we agree with it or not."

His question was directed at whether a person would need a permit to fly that flag in an area in town where a person couldn't make a speech without a permit.

Councilman Jim Dinizio asked why an American flag wouldn't elicit the same questions. Dinizio then said Town Attorney Bill Duffy would examine the issue of whether or not it was addressable in the town code.

Dinizio said the board's focus was on zoning, not constitutional issues, that's why the town attorney's interpretation was necessary.

"Let's say the town attorney does find that we could rule that a person who wants to fly that flag has to apply for a permit. And presumably, they get the permit. What have we accomplished except to maybe sensationalize something — as long as I've lived here, this is the first time I've seen the Confederate flag flown on anybody's truck. Are we overreacting to something that isn't a big problem? Are we sensationalizing it?" Councilman Bob Ghosio asked.

Bloch responded, "Personally, I would think some things start small and get big. The fact that we haven't seen a rash of Confederate flags doesn't mean we should ignore it."

He said not all flags would get the same treatment, with Nazi flags or others considered separately.

Cathy Simicich, of Mattituck, said the issue could lead to a slippery slope.

"You're going to look at everyone's truck and take everyone's bumper sticker off because it offends you?" she asked. "The Constitution says we have the right of free speech and if you start this, you're opening a can of worms."

Simicich said, too, that the town attorney should have been prepared with a response at the meeting.

"We do zoning, that's what our town attorney deals with on a daily basis," Dinizio said, adding that the goal was to firm up the facts before a discussion takes place.

Russell later told Bloch that his remarks about "rhetoric" were in reference to debate that's taken place in the community and on social media in recent days and had nothing to do with his comments at the town board meeting.

The driver of the truck with the Confederate flag could not immediately be reached for comment.

Also See: The Many Symbols Of The Modern White Power Movement

Patch file photo.