COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL July 22, 2015
11A
F LAG
Continued from page 8A
The South Valley Cheer Team struck a patriotic pose
on Saturday morning.
CG's
Liz Payton (adult at far left) said the Lil Senoritas Drill Team
has been performing at BMD at least since she performed in
Cottage Grove over 30 years ago.
O N P ARADE !
Highlights from the Grand Miner's
and Kiddie Parades
photos by Jon Stinnett
be seen on the backs of some
fair-goers, who donned it as a
sort of cape.
“Since they called for the ban
on the fl ag, we’ve been selling
it like crazy,” Moody said. Dur-
ing the various events Moody
attended with his wife in the last
few years, he said the Gadsden
or “Don’t Tread on Me” fl ag has
been the best seller until this
summer, when the Confeder-
ate fl ag became far and away
the hottest item. The going rate
for a fl ag was about $12, and
Moody said the fl ag has ac-
counted for about 90 percent of
recent sales.
Which is not to say that ev-
eryone at Bohemia Mining Days
appreciated the fl ag’s inclusion
in the festivities.
“I saw it and left,” said Cot-
tage Grove’s Suzy Kanich. “It
made me feel shocked and sad,
and I didn’t feel like being there
after that.”
Festival organizers said that
other fair-goers expressed simi-
lar sentiments and that they
fi elded several complaints about
the fl ag, and Moody himself
said he received death threats
this weekend regarding his de-
cision to sell it.
“We’re tired of people telling
us what we can and can’t do,”
his wife said. “They’re calling it
a hate fl ag, but the only people
we’re seeing hate from are the
ones that don’t like it.”
Eric Johnson, president of
BMD’s Board of Directors, said
Above: As has seemingly become a Kiddie Parade tradition, the
kids from Great Days Early Education Center lead the way on
Friday morning.
E NGINES
Above right: Members of the Cottage Grove Riding Club march
down Main Street.
gines,” he said. “You hear
them humming along because
they only fi re when they need
to. A lot of them were made to
be pulled on carts with horses,
and they were designed to do all
the jobs that were formerly per-
formed by horses — pumping
water, crushing rock, etc.”
Barrong said there was a lot
of interest in the old machines at
this year’s festival, with young
and old stopping by to take a
Right: Sue Flint takes a bit of a joyride along with Barnabas at
the Grand Miners Parade.
Continued from page 8A
he approached Moody and po-
litely asked him to take down
the Confederate fl ag from his
booth. Johnson said Moody
politely declined. Johnson later
outlined the Board’s decision
not to take action to remove the
fl ag on a Cottage Grove-based
group page on Facebook:
“By law, the booth owner
has First-Amendment rights to
fl y the fl ag on public property,”
Johnson wrote. “BMD, regard-
less of personal opinion, did not
want to take on any free speech
lawsuit that might arise by mak-
ing a decision to silence one
person over another. We are all
volunteers and do not have the
time or the money to take on
such a lawsuit.”
Johnson suggested that those
who do not like seeing the Con-
federate fl ag in public take it up
with their elected representa-
tives.
“…ask them to outlaw the
fl ag as hate speech,” he wrote.
“That would allow us to take it
down legally. Until that time,
we are not going to infringe on
anybody’s rights. As a Board,
we do not agree or disagree with
the many and varied viewpoints
of our patrons. We only strive
to create a fun and FREE fes-
tival for the citizens of Cottage
Grove.”
Johnson said the BMD board
will have a conversation in the
near future about whether to
invite vendors that sell the Con-
federate fl ag back to the festival
or whether the Festival can re-
fuse to do so.
look and have a listen. And per-
haps one or two visitors caught
the affl iction that Brown said
he’s lived with for some time.
“We have a sickness, an ad-
diction to old iron,” he said.
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