x-sender: governor.haley@sc.lmhostediq.com x-receiver: governor.haley@sc.lmhostediq.com Received: from mail pickup service by sc.lmhostediq.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Wed, 9 Dec 2015 14:25:17 -0500 thread-index: AdEyt1X9pgroUYo8SV6yV7MQiDjY8Q== Thread-Topic: Removal of Confederate Flag From: To: Subject: Removal of Confederate Flag Date: Wed, 9 Dec 2015 14:25:17 -0500 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Microsoft CDO for Windows 2000 Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message Importance: normal Priority: normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.1.7601.17609 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 09 Dec 2015 19:25:17.0415 (UTC) FILETIME=[5606DF70:01D132B7] CUSTOM Mr./Mrs. David R. (RANDY) Bryan Retired English Teacher 39 years 2238 Haystack Way Myrtle Beach SC 29579 drb1944@yahoo.com 843-236-4335 843-333-7676 GOVE Removal of Confederate Flag 75.182.38.100 Hon. Gov. Nikki Haley, I served for 39 years as a high school English teacher in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and retired to S.C. I have met you and your husband at the event in Myrtle Beach honoring Mitt and Ann Romney. I also met you at Socastee High School. I have met and spoken personally with Rep. Tom Rice and Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott. My son Robert Keith Bryan, LTC NJ Army National Guard, graduated from USAWC and served under Col. Ferrari and General Odierno in Iraq. Col. Ferrari attended his graduation from USAWC as did I. I also have two daughters, one was tragically killed in an auto accident outside Gettysburg, PA 15 July 2011. My older son is President of Hamburg (PA) Teachers' Association, Hamburg, PA. We all believe in freedom. We see our freedom of speech, expression, and overall liberty being decimated in this country. We see our military strength vastly deteriorating under a President who is indecisive, incompetent, and perceived throughout the world as weak and ineffective. I just returned from Kiev, Ukraine, where I worked with my older and younger brothers, and my cousin Dr. Phil Bryan of Edmond, Oklahoma in singing schools. I met at the Baptist Center in Irpin, Urkraine many refugees from Donetsk. Their families have been brutally affected by pro-Russian, Putin rebels. Donetsk (formerly Stalino) had its brand new airport destroyed by Putin. A plane was shot down north of Donetsk. Obama has done nothing for Ukraine or anybody else, and done nothing to promote freedom in our own country. In fact, I perceive him as being treasonous and tyrannical. He has ignored the Constitution and he has aided and abetted an avowed enemy by giving over 100 billion dollars to Iran. Finally, I see your action to remove the Confederate flag as a monumental error. What you, Graham, Scott, Rice, and Clyburn perceived as a conciliatory gesture to bring people together, instead has divided our nation even further. Your action has been as divisive as the many divisive actions of our President. Companies are intimidated by what YOU STARTED with the removal of the Confederate flag. Hardly any company produces any Confederate flags any more. This is an infringement on our freedom of thought and expression. That you see the flag as "evil" and divisive does not mean that millions of other Americans feel differently. Who are you to take away our freedom by intimidating others and encouraging them to follow your beliefs. Just look around the country and see what the NAACP (who for years "boycotted" SC over the flag) and others are now trying to do: remove and destroy every vestige of a major part of UNITED STATES history, a civil conflict or war whose symbols and flags and artifacts should not be removed from textbooks or outdoor exhibits, but rather taught freely and openly, providing our youth an opportunity to learn the TRUTH. You cannot hide any part of TRUTH, whether it is ugly or pretty, and even that depends on one's FREE belief and expression. I vehemently disapprove of your action to remove the flag. It has done nothing to reconcile races or restore racial harmony, so your objective results in the same end as that of Obama, complete divisiveness, encouragement of other anti-Confederate extremists literally to destroy, deface, or remove any vestige of the CSA, which is an integral part of American history. I would love a personal call or response from you, but do not expect to receive one. I do, however, look forward personally to hearing from you. Offering as your defense the lunatic young man carrying a Confederate flag when he killed the members of the church in Charleston is not acceptable. Crazy people do crazy things all the time. Our country has committed atrocities under the banner of the American flag. That does not mean we then choose to remove or dishonor the flag or its proud history. Sincerely, David R. Bryan