Huge Confederate flag flies over Tampa

TAMPA, Fla., June 4 (UPI) -- The NAACP has nothing good to say about what is believed to be the world's largest Confederate battle flag flying over a Tampa, Fla., freeway junction.

Curtis Stokes, president of the Hillsborough County branch of the nation's oldest civil rights organization told the St. Petersburg Times Wednesday that the Old South banner was "huge and obnoxious."

The flag, which is about the size of a semi-truck trailer, also has plenty of supporters, the newspaper said, including one young woman who called it "gorgeous."

The flag is clearly visible to motorists at the junction of Interstates 4 and 75 and was put up by a member of the Sons of the Confederacy to mark the 200th birthday of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

County officials say that can't do much about the flag due to freedom of speech protections, but the matter was to be brought up for discussion at Wednesday's County Commission meeting.