The New York State Fair has banned sales of merchandise bearing the Confederate battle flag, but the Delaware County Fair will not follow suit. 

The flag, the best-known symbol of the southern rebellion in the U.S. Civil War, became more divisive than at any time since the end of that war after nine African-American people were killed at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. on June 17.

The man charged with the crimes, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, was pictured on a website posing with the flag and other emblems associated with white supremacy. The ensuing controversy led to the removal of the flag from the South Carolina Statehouse on July 10. Many national retailers, including Wal-Mart and Sears, have stopped selling the flag. 

Above: The board of directors of the Delaware Valley Agricultural Society at the July 27 meeting. The board is wrapping up plans for the upcoming Delaware County Fair. A ban of Confederate flag merchandise is not part of those plans. Photo by Robert Cairns.

Last month, the New York State Fair announced that the Confederate battle flag would not be welcome at its fairgrounds.

Spokesman Dave Bullard issued a statement:

"The Great New York State Fair is a proud symbol of the heritage, diversity, and great promise of New York State. Our state and our Fair represent inclusion and respect for all. The Fair requests vendors to refrain from selling or displaying items that may offend or in cases of public health and safety. Our vendors have always complied with these requests. The Fair is aware of two vendors who have sold Confederate merchandise in the past. They have agreed not to sell such merchandise at the State Fair."

The Delaware Valley Agricultural Society is the governing body of the Delaware County Fair, which runs from August 17 to August 22 in the town of Walton.

Noting the state fair’s ban, Leslie Kauffman, a 4-H club leader and a co-superintendent of the rabbit barn at the Delaware County Fair, contacted Ed Rossley, the president of the society's board of directors, to request a similar ban.

Rossley brought the issue to a Monday, July 27 meeting of the board of directors, reading an email message from Kauffman.

“She wants to know what you think about Confederate flags at the fair,” he said.

“The more of them, the better,” replied Director Norm Kilpatrick.

Above: Contractors work on the rehabilitation of Delhi's Kingston Street bridges. The bridges carry Route 28 over the West Branch of the Delaware River. Photo by Robert Cairns.

The mayor of the Delaware County village of Delhi says that work on the main river crossing through the village is behind schedule, but a New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) official disagrees. Meanwhile, a Delhi flower shop on the island between the bridges under repair is struggling as construction limits access to her store.

The Kingston Street bridges, a matching pair of steel spans, carry Route 28 over the West Branch of the Delaware River into the village center from the south. Since mid-May, traffic has been limited to one lane as DOT contractors carry out a long-delayed construction project.

Mayor Richard Maxey, at the Monday, July 20 meeting of the Dehil Village Board of Trustees, said that work on the bridges is behind schedule by “at least two months, I would think.”

He said that contractors found more deterioration in the structural steel than expected and had to make unexpected repairs.

Above: A police officer making a drunk driving arrest. Photo by Flickr user Jeffrey Smith.

Delaware County will have a full-time prosecutor for Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) cases following action of the county's board of supervisors on Wednesday, July 22.

The board adopted a resolution creating a new position in the couny district attorney's office.

The resolution states that the county “recognizes that effective and efficient prosecution of DWI offenses in the local criminal courts is needed, but is time consuming and requires specialized training and experience.” It notes that the current assistant district attorneys “have extensive caseloads relating to non-DWI offenses” and says a full-time DWI prosecutor “is necessary.”