On Thursday morning, some media outlets reported that the Confederate flag, located at the old courthouse in Marshall County, was going to be removed after a change of heart from County Commissioner Justin Lamb and the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
West Kentucky Star spoke with Lamb, who said the claim is "inaccurate," and "just a rumor."
Lamb says that from the end of the Civil War until the beginning of World War II, a Civil War cannon sat on the court square. Once the United States entered World War II, the government decided to donate the cannon as scrap for the war effort.
According to Lamb, in the 1950s and '60s people wanted a replica cannon to place back on the court square, and that finally came to pass in 2007.
Once the replica cannon was placed on the property, Lamb says the goal had always been to display a Confederate flag as well.
He said officials are currently in the works of acquiring a civil war period Union flag which will fly right above the Confederate flag.
When addressing criticism over the flag, Lamb said critics need to get their facts straight.
"Don't misrepresent history just to fulfill a political agenda, because it does nobody any service," he said. "I love history, I love western Kentucky, I love Marshall County, and you know, I just want both sides of history to be told. That was our only goal with erecting the cannon and putting the flag pole up."
Lamb feels that there has been a movement across the country of people attempting to erase history.
"Anything in our nation's history that is divisive, or that folks don't like to talk about, they want to erase it and they want to hide it and act like it didn't happen." Lamb continued, "That just does our younger generation a big disservice, because we need to learn from history. We have a rich history and we need to learn from it."
You can see our previous story on the Marshall County Confederate flag at the link below.
On the Net:
Confederate Flag Flies in Marshall County
