South wants to rise again

The Sons of Confederate Veterans wants to raise the Confederate flag near the intersection of I-75 and U.S. 92 (just south of I-4). The group is raising money to erect a flag -- 50 feet long and 30 feet high -- that could be seen by passing motorists. Billed in a fund-raising announcement as the "world's largest" Confederate flag, it would be lit at night and make what the group calls a "visually stunning" statement.

It would mark the Sons of Confederate Veterans' third project in Florida. Between 1999 and 2001, the SCV erected two smaller flags just south of the Georgia line on U.S. 27 and Interstate 75.

"The environment of today is quite frequently to forget where we came from," said Douglas Dawson, the SCV's Florida division commander. "And that includes what this country was founded on."

Dawson, 62, of Pensacola, said he knows a giant Confederate flag flying 24 hours a day over two of the Tampa Bay area's busiest roads will cause controversy.

"We can't do anything but explain to people what the truth is," Dawson said. "If they don't want to accept that, they're closed-minded and Jesus Christ couldn't change it.

The site, in unincorporated Hillsborough County just east of Tampa, would also be home to a small park honoring Confederate ancestors. The park will display the names of minority Confederate soldiers in a special exhibit, Dawson said.

The group has been raising money for two years but lacks the tens of tousands of dollars money needed to erect the flag.