Confederate flag banned from Brooksville Raid; Shoney’s steps in as sponsor

By Frank Fencil | frank.fencil@springhillcourier.com

SAND HILL, Fla. — As liberals across America take away the right to display the Confederate flag, the Brooksville Raid has found a new sponsor who values a true buffet of ideas.

A local Shoney’s franchise has stepped up this week after organizers of the long-running Brooksville Raid Civil War reenactment said they would ban Confederate flags from the battlefield and prohibit spectators from displaying them during next year’s event. When the Rebels march into action in January, they’ll be going into battle carrying a Shoney’s flag and alongside the lovable Shoney Bear mascot.

“We at Shoney’s think America was founded on choice,” restaurant manager Virgil Caine said. “Whether that choice is flying a Confederate flag or which of the 16,000-plus topping combinations your tastebuds will come up with at our All-American Burger Bar and Buffet, we embrace that and wanted to step in and show our support when this great event was under fire from gun-grabbers and extremists.”

Raid organizers said they had no choice but to bar the Confederate flag after mounting public pressure.

Real News Real Fast publisher Tom Lemons recently proved just how incendiary the issue is in Hernando County when he put himself in a dangerous situation between protesters and Confederate flag supporters. His work has led to comparisons to that of Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Ernie Pyle.

“We simply no longer believed we could host a safe event,” Raid organizer Will Watterson said. “The last thing we want is for violence to break out because our soldiers would likely be the only ones there not carrying live ammunition.”