By Rupert Howell
Suit has been filed against South Panola School District superintendent Tim Wilder and his five-member board of trustees for not flying the Mississippi flag “within close proximity to the school building  at all times during the hours of daylight when the school is in session.”
School board attorney Ryan Revere said Monday that he had just recently received a copy of the suit and would have no comment on pending litigation.
School officials have gone into executive session on several occasions in the past few months since the matter surfaced at a school board meeting when plaintiff Joy R. Redwine in February discussed the district’s failure to, “comply with the law by providing for and causing the Flag of the State of Mississippi to be flown,” according to suit that stated the defendants were notified of their obligations.
The suit explains that Redwine is, “deeply attached to the flags . . .and believes that it is very important for her child and other children within the school district to have an education which emphasizes the importance of civic awareness, history, duty and the rule of law in addition to the sciences. . .”
The Mississippi flag has drawn quite a bit of controversy in past months after a mass murderer was pictured with a Confederate flag, the flag that is on one corner of Mississippi’s state flag.
Redwine is a parent of a South Panola student and member of the Mississippi On Guard LLC, a group that claims 9,500 constituents.
The suit, which only presents one side of the issue, claims Attorney Revere, said the district had no response to the matter after informed of their legal responsibility, “. . . and have willfully and obstinately failed to comply with their statutory oblations under the Mississippi Code . . . and failed to provide for and/or cause to be flown the Flags of the United States and the State of Mississippi.”
The suit asks the Court demand defendants, execute their mandatory duties. . . “and display  the Flag of the State of Mississippi. . .”