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To the Editor:
In response to the confederate flag letter.
I, too, was saddened by the events in Charlottesville, and I hope it can be a learning experience for this country. But, going by current events, it is going to be a long, hard one.
I am a proud flyer of the Confederate flag and far from a hater.
My motive for doing so is that my great-great-grandfather Martin V. Smith, Company C 20th Virginia Calvary, fought under this flag and many other flags of the Confederate armies. He was a survivor of this awful war and thousands like him were not.
There have been a few groups and people that have given the battle flag a bad name, most of which leading back to slavery.
The war was about northern aggression and taxation, not slavery.
As I travel these great roads of Pocahontas County, what I see with the wind blowing through our battle flag is pride in our southern heritage. No more, no less.
I will always fly my flag outside with my head held high, honoring the ones who fought and died for it.
Mike Smith
Frost
Deo Vindice