Flag rally leads to suit against Stephens Co. officials

TOCCOA - Eleven Stephens County officials - including the entire school board and the district attorney - are among the defendants in a suit filed by a group of Confederate flag supporters.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, also names the Stephens County School System and The Toccoa Record, a Stephens County newspaper.

The plaintiffs want a full page ad in the newspaper, paid for by the defendants, correcting what they claim were libelous and slanderous statements stemming from a rally by flaggers at Stephens County Middle School two years ago. One of the demonstrators was arrrested and subsequently tried in Stephens County Superior Court.

An attorney for The Toccoa Record as saying the suit against the paper is without merit. Other defendants have either refused comment or not returned calls seeking comment, according to The Record and WNEG-TV in Toccoa.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/3/114007