CRESTVIEW — Debate about flying Confederate flags in a post-Charleston 9 world has reached the Hub City.
The Okaloosa County NAACP is petitioning Crestview's mayor and city council to remove the rebel flag from the William "Uncle Bill" Lundy memorial at the East First Avenue-State Road 85 intersection. As of this writing, the change.org petition has 180 supporters of a 200-signature goal.
"I and others of the city and county call upon you to join the hundreds of thousands who are speaking up and saying once again, do your part to rid this country of an ideology of racial hatred," Raymond Nelson, the group's president, states. "If you are truly dedicated to making Crestview a place where all residents and guests feel and are welcomed, remove the Confederate flag."
Meanwhile, Crestview resident Amanda Kay started pleas to save the flag on change.org and ipetitions.com. "I don't see this flag as racist like people are screaming, and it shouldn't be taken away and forgotten … because someone did something awful," the change.org petition states. "Everyone gets to believe in what they believe in, in America, and this flag deserves to fly over this monument."
As of this writing, Kay's iPetition has 39 signatures of a 1,000-supporter goal; her change.org petition has 140 supporters of a 200-signature goal, according to the respective websites.
"I'm sure that the City Council will look at this very closely," Mayor David Cadle, responding to the debate, said in an interview with the Northwest Florida Daily News. He said he's received two phone calls about the issue.
The Crestview Lions Club built the Lundy memorial in 1958 to honor the man they believed was the last surviving Confederate veteran. Some residents have questioned Lundy's military record, citing Census data that suggests he wasn't old enough to have served in the Civil War.
The NAACP has made a number of requests to have the flag removed; the most recent, in November 2013, resulted in no city council action.
Nationwide, the Confederate flag has been targeted since Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white man, killed nine black people — now remembered as the "Charleston 9" — at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.
Wal-Mart, Amazon, Sears and eBay stopped selling items featuring the rebel flag, according to CNN. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley earlier this week ordered four such flags removed from the state Capitol.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview's Confederate flag debate inspires petitions