May 2000 |
The lawn surrounding the capitol was filled with grammar school
age kids, many of whom were carrying placards proclaiming, “Kids who read,
succeed.” Then numerous other kids were touring inside the state
house. None of the kids had anything to do with the flag issue.
Inside we learned the House had voted on the flag, but the senate was debating
financial things, so the likelihood of a flag announcement was slight,
or so the lieutenant governor’s office told Ray. But, no one told
the TV crews, as they were still poised for action everywhere. This
was, by far, the busiest capitol I have ever been in. The house members
had just adjourned, so were still milling about; the senate was in session
and the lobby of the senate was filled with people watching the TVs monitoring
the events in the senate. The kids who had just completed their South
Carolina history class were touring with teachers.
The State House itself was lovely. It underwent a full restoration and was reopened in 1998. South Carolina’s state stone, blue granite, was dominant everywhere along with touches of polished Honduran mahogany, white Georgia marble and pink Tennessee marble elsewhere. Mosaic stained glass windows in the main lobby were spectacular, and the newly recovered copper dome is still copper colored instead of the green it will become. BUT, under the flagpole on the dome that flies the Confederate flag, in this magnificent lobby, carved in marble, is the 1860 Order of Secession written in Columbia but voted on in Charleston. These rebs are proud of the Confederacy they began, and even if the flag is voted down, that marble engraving will still be there. |