Residents Debate Confederate Flag at Morton City Council Meeting

Posted

MORTON — A standing room only crowd packed the Bob Lyle Community Center in Morton on Monday night as citizens flooded the Morton City Council meeting in order to vent their frustrations or support revolving around a controversial float from the Loggers Jubilee parade earlier this month. 

The float in question was sponsored by a local tavern and adorned with a Confederate flag. It was awarded first place for best in show as well as first place in the businesses and society category and second place for creativity. 

Morton Mayor Dan Mortensen noted that a number of inaccuracies have been circulating in recent days regarding the float and the parade itself. First off, Mortensen noted that the city has no part in awarding the prizes for floats or trucks in the parade. The truck judges are professionals brought in from out of town while the parade float judge panel is composed of an anonymous collection of volunteer locals.

“This is why we don’t tell anyone who the judges are is because of situations like this,” explained Mortensen on Monday. “We don’t want anyone’s house getting bombed.”

Mortensen also noted that he was not officially associated with the parade or the judging. Instead, his wife Nema served as the parade coordinator. Her use of the personal email address dmort@yahoo.com helped contribute to the confusion. Mortensen said it was his wife’s first year as parade coordinator and he called the experience a “trial by fire,” while dismissing his own involvement in the parade as that of a “busy worker bee” running back and forth during the parade while working on a variety of projects.

Those points were dutifully noted by the crowd, but they did little to quell the disappointment of many in attendance.

The first three public speakers of the evening called the coronation of a Confederate-branded parade float an embarrassment to the city of Morton and its residents. The speakers noted they understood that a business has a right to fly whatever flag they desire within their own establishment, but they questioned the judgment of allowing such a divisive symbol to be allowed in a family friendly, community parade. Some speakers called for a revised set of rules that would govern which types of offensive symbols, such as swastikas or the Confederate flag, would no longer be allowed in the parade. Others called for an economic boycott of businesses in Morton and surrounding East Lewis County that were associated with the parade and the decision to build or award such a controversial float. One speaker even noted that ARTrails organizers have considered ending their involvement with the area. Many of the speakers during the meeting called for the city to issue an official apology.

Jess Martin, a rural business developer who lives in Mineral, noted she is originally from Virginia, once home to the Confederacy and its flag, and she has always found it strange to discover the number of people who proudly display Confederate flags in a region so far removed from that history and culture. Martin said she originally came to the meeting just to listen and try to find more insight into the local sympathies for the Confederacy. However, after an hour of public comment, Martin couldn’t hold her tongue anymore.

“I really hope we didn’t let anyone walk away with a bad impression, because they’re not going to tell any of the business owners that they’re offended. They’re just going to leave,” said Martin.

Chuck Haunreiter did not mince words when he addressed the Morton City Council. 

“If you don’t apologize it will never go away. People will say, ‘Oh ya, that’s a racist county and Salkum is the capitol,’” said Haunreiter.

Public comments during the meeting ran the full spectrum of opinion with many speakers defending the Confederate flag and what it means to some people as a symbol of liberty. Several speeches were dedicated to the history of the flag with one speaker explaining that it is not the “Confederate flag” at all. Rather, the stars and bars flag is leftover from the battle flag of North Virginia, a Confederate era army under the direction of General Robert E. Lee. 

Tammy Clevenger, Morton city clerk, called for a public apology to the city for the undue embarrassment the controversy, which she said is unwarranted, has caused to the people of the city. She also dismissed threats to enact economic boycotts over the Confederate flag controversy as misguided and harmful to the community. 



“There are a lot of people working as hard as they can in those shops just to raise their children,” said Clevenger. “Do you know which flag Walmart supports?”

Roxy Cupp, owner of the Brown Shack Tavern in Salkum, which presented the controversial parade float, said she has been taken aback by the response she has received over her decorations. She believes that flying the Confederate flag is an important symbol in the effort to protect the freedom of Americans from their own government. Most of all though, she says the float, which featured drunken taxidermy and water guns, was supposed to be fun.

“We didn’t win because of the flags. We won because we captured the audience and the judges,” Cupp told the council. “It was a fun float, period … My intention was to make people smile and laugh, which they did.”

Morton City Councilor Amanda West took a moment to address the notion of economic boycotts as un-American. While stopping short of encouraging anyone to boycott anywhere or anything specifically, she did note that boycotts are a deeply ingrained American tradition dating back to at least the Revolutionary War. West, a history teacher at Morton Junior/Senior High School, also discussed the responsibilities attached to the right of free speech. 

“Once you make a display or deliver a message you lose control over how it will be interpreted,” said West. “Once you make a speech in a public square you then have to deal with everything that comes with it.”

However, West also noted that she didn’t see any way that the City of Morton was culpable for the parade display. That opinion is one that Mayor Mortensen certainly agrees with.

“For the city to apologize, I don’t think we have done anything to apologize for,” said Mortensen. “Are times changing? Absolutely. Should we look into our practices? Absolutely. But those decisions are not going to be made here tonight.”

Addressing the crowd, Mortensen added, “I will tell you that because of tonight’s meeting this will be a topic of discussion with the Loggers Jubilee committee.”

Mortensen was unsure of when the committee would meet next.

After Monday’s city council meeting, Mortensen expressed his disappointment that he and his city have suffered such negative news, but he commended all who attended the meeting for their commitment to civil, impassioned discourse.

“I thought it went extremely well. I don’t think you could’ve asked for a better one, especially with the differing viewpoints that were presented,” said Mortensen.