About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 18, 2020)
TODAYS TOP HEADLINES The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Weekend Edition - July 18-19, 2020 3A Pentagon bars Confederate flag on military installations Policy in released memo does not mention flag by name ANDRE TEAGUE I Associated Press A man wears a Confederate flag while walking with others in Marion, Va on July 3. Defense leaders are weighing a new policy that would bar the display of the Confederate flag at department facilities without actually mentioning its name, several U.S. officials said Thursday, July 16. BY LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON - After weeks of wrangling, the Pentagon is banning dis plays of the Confederate flag on military installations, in a carefully worded policy that doesn’t mention the word ban or that specific flag. The policy, laid out in a memo released Friday, was described by officials as a creative way to bar the flag’s display without openly contra dicting or angering President Donald Trump, who has defended people’s rights to display it. Signed by Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Thursday night, the memo lists the types of flags that may be displayed at military installations. The Confederate flag is not among them — thus barring its display without singling it out in a “ban.” Details of the policy were first reported by the AP. “We must always remain focused on what unifies us, our sworn oath to the Constitution and our shared duty to defend the nation,” Esper’s memo states. “The flags we fly must accord with the military imperatives of good order and discipline, treating all our people with dignity and respect, and rejecting divi sive symbols.” Acceptable flags listed in the memo include the U.S. and state banners, flags of other allies and partners, the widely displayed POW/MIA flag and official military unit flags. Confederate flags, monuments and military base names have become a national flashpoint in the weeks since the death of George Floyd. Protesters decry ing racism have targeted Confederate monuments in multiple cities. Some state officials are considering taking them down, but they face vehement opposition in some areas. Army Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a statement that the American flag is the symbol of the Constitution that service members swore to protect. He added, “Each of us must create (and) maintain an environ ment of cohesion across the Joint Force. One way to do that is to always honor our American Flag.” According to a Defense Department official familiar with the matter, the decision not to name a specific pro hibited flag was to ensure the policy would be apolitical and could withstand potential legal challenges based on free speech. The official said that the White House is aware of the new policy and that it takes effect immediately. Trump has flatly rejected any notion of changing base names and has defended the flying of the Confederate flag, saying it’s a freedom of speech issue. According to Esper’s memo, the dis play of unauthorized flags — such as the Confederate banner carried during the Civil War — is acceptable in museums, historical exhibits, works of art or other educational programs. The Marine Corps has already banned the Confederate flag. Gen. David Berger, the commandant of the Marine Corps, directed his commanders in early June to remove public displays of the Confed erate battle flag. That flag, which some embrace as a symbol of heritage, “car ries the power to inflame feelings of divi sion” and can weaken the unit cohesion that combat requires, Berger said. Military commands in South Korea and Japan quickly followed suit. The new policy does not affect or rescind those bans. The other three military services were all moving to enact similar bans, but they paused when Esper made it known he wanted a consistent policy across the whole department. Now they will instead issue this new policy to their troops and employees. Defense leaders have for weeks been tied in knots over the incendiary issue of banning the Confederate flag. An early draft of the Defense Depart ment plan banned display of the Confed erate flag, saying the prohibition would preserve “the morale of our personnel, good order and discipline within the mili tary ranks and unit cohesion.” That ver sion was shelved, and officials have been struggling since then to come up with a policy that would have the same effect but not create political havoc. Esper discussed the matter with senior leaders during a meeting Wednesday, including some of the legal issues sur rounding a variety of bans, which some officials believe could be challenged in court. The final version is a compromise that enables Esper to enact a ban that passes legal muster and gives military leaders what they want, but doesn’t infuriate the commander in chief. According to the official, the new policy doesn’t undo the bans already in place, and service chiefs and secretaries will still be able to enact additional, more stringent policies restricting symbols they believe are divisive and harmful to unit cohesion. The official spoke on con dition of anonymity to discuss decisions not yet made public. Ginsburg: Cancer has returned, but I will not retire BY MARK SHERMAN AND JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press WASHINGTON — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Friday she is receiving chemotherapy for a recurrence of cancer, but has no plans to retire from the Supreme Court. The 87-year-old Ginsburg, who has had four earlier bouts with cancer including pancreatic cancer last year, said her treatment so far has succeeded in reducing lesions on her liver and she will continue chemotherapy sessions every two weeks “to keep my cancer at bay.” “I have often said I would remain a member of the Court as long as I can do the job full steam. I remain fully able to do that,” Gins burg said in a statement issued by the court. Ginsburg, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, is the senior liberal justice on a court that leans conservative by a 5-4 margin. Her departure before the election could give President Donald Trump the chance to shift the court further to the right. Ginsburg’s history with cancer goes back more than 20 years. In addition to being treated without surgery for a tumor on her pancreas last year, she also underwent sur gery for colorectal cancer in 1999, pancreatic cancer in 2009 and lung cancer in December 2018. Dr. Alan Venook, a pancreatic cancer specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, who is not involved in Ginsburg’s care, said that “clearly, she’s got incurable disease now” because of the spread to her liver. On average, patients with advanced pancreatic cancer live about a year, but the fact that her disease took so long to recur from her initial pancreatic cancer surgery in 2009 and previous treatments “suggests that it’s not been growing rapidly,” he said. “She’s above average in many ways.” and has done remarkably well with all her treatments so far, Venook said. “There’s no reason to think she would die imminently.” Asked earlier this week about a possible opening on the court before the election, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said the president would act quickly if any opening were to arise. Meadows commented after news that Ginsburg had left the hospital after receiving treatment for an infection, which she said Friday was unrelated to the cancer. “I can’t imagine if he had a vacancy on the Supreme Court that he would not very quickly make the appoint ment and look for the Senate to take quick action,” Mead ows said, adding that he didn’t want any comment to be seen as wishing Ginsburg “anything but the very best.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said that if there were to be a vacancy on the court during this year’s election cycle, the Republican-controlled Sen ate would likely confirm a nominee selected by Trump. Ginsburg said she was disclosing her cancer treatment now because she is satisfied “that my treatment course is now clear.” Ginsburg noted that she is able to “maintain an active daily routine” and that throughout her treatment she has “kept up with opinion writing and all other Court work.” Ginsburg Arbery slaying defendant facing separate investigation BY SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press ATLANTA — One of the white men charged with murder in the slaying of Ahmaud Arbery while he was running in a neighborhood near Georgia’s coast struck the Black man with his vehicle and had mes sages on his phone that were “replete” with racist remarks, a prosecutor said in court Friday. Cobb County prosecutor Jesse Evans cited the evidence to urge a judge to deny bond to defendant William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. Evans also said Bryan and the two other defendants in the case communi cated with each other after Arbery’s death, appearing to be “circling the wagons,” and that Bryan was facing a separate state criminal investiga tion into possible sex crimes. Judge Timothy Walmsley later denied bond for Bryan, citing the risk that he may flee given the life sentence he faces if con victed in the Arbery case, the state inves tigation and still a third probe by the U.S. Department of Justice. Bryan’s attorney, Kevin Gough, had argued that prosecutors had no case against Bryan in Arbery’s slaying and that he did not pose a flight risk or other danger. Gough said he was not going to address charges that might come out of other investigations. A grand jury has indicted Bryan and two other white men, Greg McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, on charges including malice and felony murder in Arbery’s Feb. 23 shooting death. The McMichaels armed themselves and pursued the 25-year-old Black man while he was running in their neighborhood. Greg McMichael told police he suspected Arbery was a burglar and that Arbery attacked his son before being shot. Arbery’s family has said he was out for a jog. Bryan lives in the same subdivision just outside the port city of Brunswick, and video he took of the shooting from the cab of his vehicle helped stir a national outcry when it leaked online on May 5. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation soon took over the case from local police, and the arrests of the McMichaels fol lowed on May 7. Arbery’s death has often been invoked during protests against racial injustice that have broken out across the nation since George Floyd’s death under a white Minneapolis police officer’s knee. Bryan and the McMichaels all pleaded not guilty to the charges at Friday’s hearing, appearing by video from jail. “Mr. Bryan is the only eyewitness in this case other than the McMichaels,” Gough said. “He is in fact the state’s star witness. If he had not made the video in this case, there would be no case.” Gough rejected the idea that his client was part of a lynch mob or posse as a “false nar rative.” He also raised concerns that his cli ent could contract COVID-19 while awaiting trial in jail. 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