Virginia City Limits Confederate Flag-Flying

The Virginia city where Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are buried has approved a proposal to limit the flying of Confederate flags. Lexington's city council voted 4-1 in favor of allowing only the Virginia, US, and city flags to be flown from light poles on a bridge and on several downtown streets. Some 100 people led by the Sons of Confederate Veterans rallied before the vote.

"I am a firm believer in the freedom to express our individual rights, which include flying the flag that we decide to fly," a man in a Confederate uniform told AP. "That's freedom to me." Officials say the people of Lexington are free to carry flags anywhere they want, but they decided to introduce limits on the flying of flags from light poles after receiving hundreds of complaints about Confederate flags when they were flown from city property on Lee-Jackson Day, a state holiday marking the generals' birthdays. (More Confederate flag stories.)