Flying Confederate flag defended in Oregon

MEDFORD, Ore. — Ken Webber still proudly flies his Confederate battle flag with the word “Redneck” emblazed across it from the CB antenna on his pickup truck. He hopes that his lawsuit in federal court will get his job back driving a school bus.

“What Mr. Webber is encapsulating is a Jeffersonian agrarianism, where you stand up for your rights,” attorney Thomas Boardman argued Thursday in U. S. District Court. “If we are going to say someone cannot identify as a redneck, what else can we not identify ourselves as?”

Attorneys for bus company First Student Inc. and the Phoenix-talent School District countered that Webber himself said that the flag, a gift from his father, represented his “redneck” lifestyle, where family comes first, and people enjoy hunting, fishing and driving fourwheel-drive trucks through the mud. They said the flag did not represent any kind of political speech that would be protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The arguments came on a motion filed by the bus company and the school district asking the judge to decide the case based on legal arguments without going to a trial before a jury. Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke took the matter under advisement. No trial date has been set.

Married and the father of four young children, Webber was fired last March after refusing bus company orders to take down the flag, cover it, or park some distance away from school property. Since losing his job, he has been taking classes at community college.

School Superintendent Ben Bergreen had seen the flag on a visit to the bus yard and demanded that the flag be removed from school property, citing a policy prohibiting symbols that could be offensive to minorities.