Police are working to determine the person responsible for firebombing a Confederate flag billboard in Jasper County, South Carolina.
The billboard at the intersection of Bees Creek Road and Coosaw Scenic Drive in Ridgeland depicts and oversized Confederate flag with the words “Never forget,” a message some apparently do not appreciate, WJCL reports.

“One of my members called and said the billboard caught on fire and I wasn’t sure because the billboard actually doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to (another) gentleman,” Leon Smith, commander of the local Sons of Confederate Veterans chapter, told the news site.
“He put the billboard up about 15 years ago in 2001 to honor his confederate ancestry that fought in the Civil War.”
Bluffton Today reports the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office was alerted to the burning billboard around 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28, and deputies are asking for tips from the public as they investigate.
Folks on Facebook commented that the billboard was fire-bombed, and WJCL confirmed that appeared to be the case.
Smith told the news site the vandalism is offensive, but he’s even more offended by the country’s increasingly irrational obsession with political correctness.
“I think the politically correct have gotten way out of hand and people have gotten really super sensitive, and anything and everything. It’s really ridiculous,” he said. “People need to really be educated more on the actual historical facts and that’s why we go to different schools.”
Sons of Confederate Veterans perform Civil War reenactments, tend to Confederate graves, and provide history presentations for schools, according to the news site, which described the billboard as “the only real display of a true Confederate flag in the area that still remains.”
Police have been unable to contact the owner of the billboard, who lives in Columbia, WTOC reports.
Eleanor Morrison, a black woman, was outraged by the vandalism and vented her frustrations on Facebook.
“These types of actions should not be happening,” she wrote, “people can not destroy history.”
Christopher Williamson countered that “Unfortunately, Mrs. Morrison, it is being done everywhere. And justified by our government in the name of political correctness.”
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