The Latest: Georgia park replaces stolen Confederate flag

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The latest on the Confederate flag in South Carolina (all times local):

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5:15 p.m.

Officials at a Georgia park featuring a giant bas relief of Confederate heroes say a Confederate battle flag that had been taken from its pole has been replaced.

Stone Mountain Park police spokesman John Bankhead tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (http://bit.ly/1L3x8yK) officials noticed the flag was missing about 11 a.m. Friday. They replaced it by noon.

The Confederate battle flag has come under renewed scrutiny in the weeks since nine black churchgoers were fatally shot during bible study in Charleston, South Carolina. Dylann Storm Roof, a white man who was photographed with the flag, is charged in the shooting deaths and authorities are investigating the killings as a hate crime.

Officials in South Carolina on Friday removed a Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse that had been flying there for 54 years.

Stone Mountain features a 3-acre relief sculpture of Jefferson Davis, who was president of the Confederacy, and generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. The Ku Klux Klan also once held cross-burnings and organizational meetings on the mountain.

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2:35 p.m.

The 30-foot tall flagpole where the Confederate flag flew for 15 years on the front lawn of the South Carolina Capitol has been pulled down.

A crane yanked the pole from the ground about 2:20 p.m. Friday, just over four hours after the flag was removed.

The flagpole didn’t go easily. The crane operator had to firmly pull several times before the pole finally came out of the ground.

The crowd cheered, but it was small. On Friday morning, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people had gathered and chanted as the flag was removed.

Crews also were removing the wrought iron fence around the flagpole and the flood lights that were required by law to illuminate the rebel banner.

The flagpole was set to be loaded on a flatbed truck and hauled away.

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2:10 p.m.

Crews are working the remove the flagpole where the Confederate flag flew at the South Carolina Statehouse for 15 years.

By 2 p.m. Friday, a crane had driven up on the lawn of the Capitol. Workers began cutting the wrought iron fence around the pole and removing the flood lights that were required by law to illuminate the rebel banner.

State Department of Public Safety Director Leroy Smith joined a small gathering crowd to watch the events unfold to remove the pole.

The law signed by Republican Gov. Nikki Haley on Thursday required that both the flag and the flagpole be taken down. The flag was removed in a six-minute ceremony Friday morning. Thousands attended and cheered as it came down.

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12:58 p.m.

Officials with Gov. Nikki Haley’s office say the pole on which the Confederate battle flag once flew will soon be removed from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds.

Spokesman Rob Godfrey posted on his Twitter account that the process to remove the pole and the fence that surrounds it is tentatively set to begin at 2 p.m. Friday.

During a brief ceremony at 10 a.m. Friday, the flag was taken down by a Highway Patrol honor guard as a crowd of thousands looked on and cheered.

A van took the flag to a nearby museum, where it will be housed.

The Confederate flag was raised over the Capitol dome in 1961 to protest integration. It was moved in 2000 to the flagpole in front of the Statehouse.

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12:50 p.m.

The Highway Patrol honor guard that took down the Confederate flag before a crowd of nearly 10,000 on the South Carolina Capitol grounds was the same group that carried slain state Sen. Clementa Pinckney’s body into the Statehouse for his public viewing 16 days ago.

On Friday, Highway Patrol Cpls. Chris Martin and Rupert Pope rolled the banner neatly, tying a ribbon on it before handing off to the guard’s leader, Lt. Derrick Gamble.

Martin and Pope are white, and Gamble is black. But the men downplayed the significance of their race in the ceremony.

Pope said: “We’re all gray.” The other officers nodded in agreement.

The same men carried Pinckney’s casket June 24. He was one of nine victims in a June 17 massacre at a black church in Charleston. A white man who’s been photographed with the Confederate flag was charged, and authorities have said the shooting was racially motivated. The incident pushed forward the debate over the flag on the Statehouse grounds.

The troopers had to keep their assignment quiet, even from their families. Gamble says he’s honored and humbled to be a part of both ceremonies.

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12:10 p.m.

Officials with the museum that will house the Confederate battle flag that flew on South Carolina’s Statehouse grounds for years confirm that the banner has been received.

Education curator Joe Long said Friday after the morning ceremony to remove the flag that the Confederate Relic Room had placed the banner in one of its storage areas.

Long says the flag will be kept in a preparation area until the logistics of its display are worked out.

To pass the bill that brought the flag down, supporters of its removal promised to build a multimillion dollar shrine for the banner and other Confederate artifacts. Funding details will be worked out during next year’s budget process.

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12:05 p.m.

On the day the Confederate flag was removed from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds, a Confederate statue in Charleston was vandalized for the second time since the shooting of nine people at a historic black church there.

The Confederate Memorial Statue was spray-painted in black on two sides Friday morning. One side had the words used from President Obama’s eulogy for shooting victim state Sen. Clementa Pinckney. Obama said: “The cause for which they fought, the cause of slavery, was wrong.” The statue was spray-painted with that phrase, but without punctuation.

A police report says the other side of the statue had the words “Take Down This Racist Statue.”

The report says a man called police about 6:20 a.m. said to report that the statue was spray-painted by a white man about 30 years old who had jogged by, stopped and then entered the railing around the statue.

The witness says the man ran after spraying the statue. No arrests have been made.

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Noon

The families of the nine victims killed in last month’s shooting at a historic African-American church had a front-row view for the removal of the Confederate flag at the South Carolina Capitol.

The families stood on the Statehouse steps below lawmakers, Gov. Nikki Haley and three former governors on Friday morning.

Denise Quarles’ mother was among those killed in the June 17 Charleston massacre that sparked calls for the flag’s removal. She says her mother, Myra Thompson, received her license to preach just hours before the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Quarles says she knows that her mother and the other eight victims smiled from heaven as the Confederate flag was taken down for good.

Quarles said: “The tragedy was a tragedy. But now on the other side of that tragedy, we see a lot of positives coming out. Maybe people will change their hearts.”

Many relatives of the victims wore purple T-shirts that said “We Are U9ted In Faith & Love” inside a heart, with the first names of the nine killed around it.

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10:30 a.m.

President Barack Obama says taking down the Confederate flag is “a sign of good will and healing and a meaningful step toward a better future.”

Obama posted his reaction on Twitter on Friday, minutes after the flag was removed from a flagpole on the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse, where it had been for 54 years.

The removal followed last month’s killing of nine black parishioners at a Charleston church. A white man has been charged in what authorities have called a racially motivated killing.

Obama delivered a eulogy at one of the funerals, for state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, who also was pastor of the church where the killings took place.

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10:20 a.m.

Republican Gov. Nikki Haley didn’t show any emotion as the Confederate flag was lowered and removed from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds until someone in the crowd yelled “Thank you, governor!”

Then, as the flag was taken down Friday morning, Haley nodded in the direction of the cheering and smiled.

The flag was taken down by a state Highway Patrol honor guard. One trooper took the flag down, and then he and another trooper rolled it up. They handed it a third trooper. Then, when the flag was given to an archivist, Haley clapped.

Haley called for the flag’s removal after the June 17 massacre of nine black parishioners at a Charleston church. A white man is charged, and authorities say the killings were racially motivated. The shootings reignited calls to remove Confederate symbols across the country.

She signed into law a bill to remove the flag on Thursday.

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10:09 a.m.

The Confederate flag has been removed from a flagpole on the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse, where it has had a presence for 54 years.

The rebel banner was taken down Friday morning by a Highway Patrol honor guard in a ceremony attended by thousands who cheered at the removal, many yelling “USA, USA” and “Hey, hey, hey, goodbye!”

A van will take the flag to a nearby museum, where it will be housed.

The reversal seemed unthinkable just a month ago. It comes after the June 17 massacre of nine black parishioners at a Charleston church. A white man is charged, and authorities say the killings were racially motivated. The shootings reignited calls to remove Confederate symbols across the country.

The Confederate flag was raised over the Capitol dome in 1961 to protest integration. It was moved in 2000 to a flagpole in front of the Statehouse.

The flagpole, too, will be torn down, but no timetable is set.

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10:07 a.m.

A ceremony has begun to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse, where it has flown for 54 years.

The rebel banner will be taken down Friday morning by a state Highway Patrol honor guard. Thousands of people gathered at the Statehouse, many cheering and some chanting “take it down.”

After the flag is removed, a van will take it to a nearby museum, where it will be housed.

The ceremony and flag removal come after the June 17 massacre of nine black parishioners at a Charleston church. A white man is charged, and authorities say the killings were racially motivated. The shootings reignited calls to remove Confederate symbols nationwide.

The Confederate flag was raised over the Capitol dome in 1961 to protest integration. It was moved in 2000 to a flagpole in front of the Statehouse.

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9:55 a.m.

An honor guard from the South Carolina Highway Patrol has arrived on the grounds of the Statehouse and the officers are standing stoically as they wait to take down the Confederate flag.

The group is standing near the flag with their hands behind their backs. They are wearing white gloves.

The honor guard will bring the flag down during a ceremony at 10 a.m.

The flag has flown either on the Statehouse dome or grounds since the civil rights moment. It is being brought down after nine black church members were killed during a shooting last month.

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9:35 a.m.

The leader of the South Carolina chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans says he is not at the ceremony to take down the rebel flag because he honors the memories of his seven ancestors who fought for the South in the Civil War.

Leland Summers said by phone Friday ahead of the ceremony that: “I’m not going down there to watch them be dishonored and defamed.”

He says his organization was not asked to participate in the Statehouse ceremony, unlike in 2000 when the flag was moved from the Capitol dome to a monument in front of the building.

Summers says that at some point today, he will pause, reflect on his Southern relatives and pray for the future of the country.

At the Statehouse on Friday morning, flag supporters were vastly outnumbered, but some were present. Cindy Lampley clutched a poster showing photos of ancestors who fought for the Confederacy. Lampley says she is a historical re-enactor who fears that removing symbols such as the flag dishonors her relatives who fought for the Southern cause.

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9:10 a.m.

An honor guard from the South Carolina Highway Patrol will take down the Confederate flag that has flown on the grounds of the Statehouse for more than 50 years.

The flag will be taken down Friday during at 10 a.m. ceremony.

Gov. Nikki Haley signed the bill Thursday calling for the flag’s removal from the Statehouse grounds.

Opposition to the Confederate flag gained momentum after the killings of nine people, including a state senator, at a historic black church in Charleston.

Authorities say they believe the killings were racially motivated and the suspect, Dylann Storm Roof, was seen in photos posing with the Confederate flag as a symbol of hatred.

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8:20 a.m.

About two hours before the Confederate flag was set to be removed Friday from the South Carolina Statehouse, Gov. Nikki Haley walked out on the Capitol steps to take a look at the scene and to talk to officers providing security.

The governor spent just over five minutes looking over the crowd, which quickly turned and began taking pictures.

Afterward, she and her staff headed back to her first-floor office.

Haley signed the bill Thursday calling for the flag’s removal from the Statehouse grounds.

Opposition to the Confederate flag gained momentum after the killings of nine people, including a state senator, at a historic black church in Charleston.

Authorities say they believe the killings were racially motivated and the suspect, Dylann Storm Roof, was seen in photos posing with the Confederate flag as a symbol of hatred.

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8:15 a.m.

Members of the news media far outnumber spectators outside the South Carolina Statehouse on Friday morning as officials prepare to take down a Confederate flag that has flown there for more than 50 years.

About 50 people have gathered and the crowed is about equally divided between blacks and whites. Some people are carrying Confederate flags, but more are carrying signs saying the flag should come down.

The 10 a.m. ceremony to take down the flag comes weeks after nine people were killed in a shooting at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina.

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7:40 a.m.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley says she’s proud of how her state responded to the shooting deaths of nine people at a historic black church in Charleston last month, a shooting that led to Friday’s removal of the Confederate flag flying in front of the Statehouse.

Haley told NBC’s “Today” show Friday morning that she’ll be thinking of the shooting victims as the flag is removed at a 10 a.m. ceremony.

Haley said South Carolinians honor tradition and history but the Confederate flag belongs in a museum where people can honor it appropriately.

Haley said: “No one should ever drive by the Statehouse and feel pain. No one should ever drive by the Statehouse and feel like they don’t belong.”

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7:10 a.m.

Police have roped off the Confederate flag and the area immediately behind it stretching back to the South Carolina Statehouse, where the flag is to be removed in a 10 a.m. ceremony that’s expected to be brief.

Barricades have been put up on either side of the flag where people can gather to watch the ceremony. The busy street that runs in front of the Statehouse is still open, but police plan to close it before the ceremony.

Reporters and videographers outnumbered the crowd. A number of law enforcement officers were scattered about the grounds and nearby streets.

Columbia City Council on Thursday night approved a temporary ordinance banning weapons from nearby streets around the Statehouse for the next 30 days.

The Ku Klux Klan has said it will meet at the Statehouse later this month.

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