CRESTVIEW — City workers last week quietly removed the rebel flag from its East First Avenue post at the William “Bill” Lundy Memorial.
It had fluttered in the city, though not always in the same location, since 1958 when the Crestview Lions Club established a memorial to honor a man believed to be Florida’s last surviving Civil War veteran.
Mayor David Cadle initially stated in a media release that the flag would relocate.
“The proposal includes the Lundy family taking possession of the memorial and moving it to private land,” he said.
Since then, several members of the Lundy family have questioned the statement.
“The family did not make a deal,” Martha F. Lundy said on the News Bulletin’s Facebook page. “One member of the family took it upon themselves to make this offer without consulting anyone else.”
“The mayor’s office was flooded with phone calls from the rest of the Lundy family (Thursday) to inform the mayor that this person does not speak for the entire family,” Reba Cobb Lundy said.
Family members also raised concerns about the rebel flag being replaced with an American flag.
“I’m pretty sure any Confederate soldier that fought, bled or died fighting a war over taxes for the Confederacy would consider that a slap in the face,” Martha Lundy said. “No other flag should fly above a Confederate memorial other than a Confederate flag.”
Rebel flags on public property have been targeted nationwide since Dylann Roof, a white man, killed nine black people in mid-June at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. But Okaloosa County’s NAACP chapter has called for the Crestview flag’s removal for many years.
Sabu Williams, among the flag’s critics, expressed relief and concern after word spread about the removal.
“An action long overdue but welcomed nonetheless,” he said on Facebook. “My only regret is the fact that the flag was not lowered in dignity, folded in honor, and presented in respect to a surviving member of the Lundy family.”
On Monday, former Crestview City Councilwoman Robyn Helt also criticized how the flag removal was handled.
“Our council members have an obligation and responsibility to make hard decisions for the citizens of Crestview,” she said, addressing city leaders. “You have that responsibility to do that in a public forum that gives citizens an opportunity to participate.
“With respect to the Lundy memorial, the process should have involved the public’s input and it should’ve occurred in a format that appeared in the Sunshine instead of appearing to have occurred in a process where decisions were made without the citizens being consulted.”
