BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. – A woman whose son is buried at the Blue Springs Cemetery said all of the U.S. flags were tossed from gravestones by lawn care staff, but the Confederate flags weren’t.
“It’s not because it’s one flag or the other it’s just how can you throw one flag away and not the other,” said Sissy Danner, whose son, Tyler Danner is buried at the cemetery.
FOX 4 reached out to the cemetery for answers. Staff said one time each summer all of the flowers and flags are thrown out so crews can clean up the lawn. When asked why the Confederate flags were left behind a staff member on the phone said it was because they have been “chewed out” for throwing those ones away, so now they leave them.
“So in other words it’s just going to take me and other loved ones to chew them out many times before they will leave our flags alone,” Danner told FOX 4.
Staff threw away flowers and flags in a dumpster on site several weeks ago. Danner said it’s not fair some flags were tossed and not others.
Steve McBride, who is the president of the cemetery, first told FOX 4 he wasn’t aware lawn care crews were told not to toss the Confederate flags. McBride wouldn’t do an on-camera interview with us, but later told us flags are tossed depending on the type of holder they are in.
J.M. Herman, with The Missouri Flaggers, said he is the one who complains when the Confederate Flags are messed with. He said the U.S. Flags should get the same respect.
“It’s a grave of a Confederate soldier, it’s no different than a U.S. solider that dons a U.S. flag,” he said.
McBride e-mailed FOX 4 a written statement regarding the cemetery’s policies regarding removing flags. The statement does not address why some flags were removed and not others.
It reads in part:
“All flowers and decorations that are on the ground if not picked up 10 days after Memorial Day will be picked up and disposed of so that normal mowing may resume.”
You can read the full statement here (PDF)
