NATCHEZ — A new policy regarding Confederate battle flags at the Natchez City Cemetery has drawn criticism from the local Sons of Confederate Veterans’ chapter.

The Natchez City Cemetery Association recently adopted a new policy regarding the posting of Confederate flags on the graves of Confederate soldiers.

The policy is the same as the Department of Veterans Affairs and other government agencies, Natchez City Cemetery Association President Cyndy Stevens said.

The policy allows descendants of Confederate veterans to place small Confederate flags on their ancestors’ graves on Confederate Memorial Day, observed the last Monday in April in Mississippi, and on Memorial Day.

The policy allows a sponsoring organization — such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans — to place small flags on the graves of Confederate veterans who are buried in the two large, Confederate burial plots in the cemetery on the Confederate Memorial Day and Memorial Day.

The Sons of the Confederate Veterans or any other organization can no longer place Confederate flags on the graves of individuals buried in private family plots.

Stevens said the change in policy followed complaints the cemetery association received that the Confederate flags were up for an extended period of time, as well as placed on private plots of families that did not want Confederate flags there.

Stevens said the original flag policy of the cemetery association permitted the placement of Confederate flags for one week in April, usually around Confederate Memorial Day. Gradually, Stevens said, the flags stayed up longer and longer until the time period became a month.

Stevens said the time the flags were up likely gradually extended because the flag policy was not consistently enforced.

“We started getting complaints … and we began investigating and looking at what exactly our policy should be,” Stevens said.

Complaints about the extended time the flags were up, as well as concerns from families who have private plots were considered in evaluating a new policy, Stevens said.

Local attorney Stratton Bull said he wrote the cemetery association a few times to voice concerns about Confederate flags being placed on the graves of his ancestors who were Confederate veterans.

Bull said he thinks the cemetery association does an “absolutely wonderful” job with operating the cemetery, but he had concerns about the message

“Regardless of what you think about the Civil War … who was right or wrong … and the pride in that flag, and rightfully so, (the flag) has been coopted by bad people,” Bull said.

Bull cited the national attention received by Dylann Roof, who is accused of the racially motivated killing of nine black parishioners last year at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. Multiple photographs have circulated of Roof holding Confederate flags.

Jason Blaney is the commander of the local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp, the Maj. Gen. William T. Martin Camp No. 590. Blaney said it is unfortunate that hate groups fly the Confederate flag in support of their cause.

“But that is not what our group is about,” he said. “We are honoring the veterans that fought in that war and honoring their courage to do so. The Sons of Confederate Veterans does not condone (any) hate groups (or) the misuse of our Confederate ancestors’ good name and symbols.

“It is very unfortunate that some groups use that flag as a hate symbol, but you have to remember that some of those same groups use a cross or a Christian flag. So picking and choosing goes against our very first freedom of expression and speech.”

Blaney said the Sons of Confederate Veterans disagrees with the cemetery’s policy. Blaney has been commander of Camp No. 590 for 12 years and said the group has been placing flags on graves for the month of April for as long as he has served as commander.

As far as placing flags on private plots, Blaney said the organization respects the wishes of families and has in the past asked the cemetery association to let the group know which families do not wish to have flags placed on their plots.

“We understand that, and we have told the cemetery if they get a complaint … let us know, and we would scratch them off our list,” Blaney said. “We want to be respectful of the family’s request as well.”

Because the Natchez City Cemetery is not a national cemetery, Blaney said he does not think adopting the VA’s policy regarding flags is appropriate.

While national cemeteries have uniform headstones, the city cemetery has a mix of various headstones and is not strictly a veterans’ cemetery.

“So you can’t go by those rules when this is a totally unique cemetery.”

Limiting the flags to two days puts a strain on getting the flags up and down in a timely manner, Blaney said. In years past, Blaney said, placing the flags has taken multiple days.

Blaney said the Sons of Confederate Veterans hopes to talk to the cemetery association about the policy.

“We are on friendly terms with the cemetery association,” he said. “They have asked us to come be in Angels on the Bluff, which we have done … in the past and will do again this year. We hope to continue to be friendly with them, and we’re hoping to discuss this policy later and see if we can work something out.”