Though the national media brouhaha over the love or disdain of the Confederate flag has waned in recent weeks, the love of the flag is alive and well at the Oak Grove-Thach Volunteer Fire Department.

On a flagpole outside Station No. 2 — located near the intersection of Alabama 251 and McKee Road — the flag flies prominently underneath the American flag and state flag. Fire Chief Charles Claunch said Thursday he has no intention of removing the flag, either.

“Nobody in the community has complained,” he said. “To be honest, I don’t pay a lot of attention to the controversy that goes on. You’re going to have people in this world who are going to want to complain about everything, but some people are going to be who they are.”

Claunch said he and his roster of about 50 male and female firefighters fit into the latter category. He added that “most of his department” supports the display of the Confederate flag.

Unique situation

Opponents of the flag who insist on its removal have used the argument the flag should not be displayed on property owned by governmental entities. The Oak Grove-Thach Department is unique in that sense because it owns the property on which the fire station sits. Claunch said the department also owns its equipment.

“We buy our gas at the gas station like everybody else does,” Claunch said. “We have a long history at Oak Grove-Thach as far as getting out and helping the public. We work from Tanner to Madison to help people.”

Though the Limestone County Commission may not own the Station No. 2 property, it does distribute public funds to the department and 12 other volunteer departments. Those funds are in the form of revenue from the tobacco tax, TVA-in-lieu-of-tax dollars and from a fire fee that became law in 2008 and sponsored in the Legislature by former State Sen. Tom Butler and Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur.

Under the law, dwellings in Limestone County pay $2.50 per month and businesses pay $5. Houses and businesses located within the city limits of Athens are excluded.

The tobacco tax is collected by the Alabama Forestry Service and is then distributed equally among the county’s 13 volunteer departments. County Administrator Pam Ball said the departments received $205,053.05 from October 2014 through June 15. That divides out to about $15,773.31 per department.

In terms of TVA-in-lieu-of-tax revenue, the departments have received $156,000 from October 2014 through Thursday. That equals about $12,000 per department.

The volunteer departments receive the most public funding from the fire fee, which is actually split 14 different ways. The 13 departments get a cut, as does the Limestone County Volunteer Fire Department Association. The total generated from the fire fee from October 2014 through July 31 was $651,192.04. Divided 14 ways, that equals $46,513.71.

In addition to the public funds received by the Oak Grove-Thach Department, Station No. 2 is also home to a public storm shelter paid for by Federal Emergency Management Agency funds.

Involvement urged

Claunch said despite the flag being displayed at the station, there is no sense of racism among he or any other firefighters on the roster. He added the fire department was established in 1984 and he’s unaware of any instance in which a firefighter asked about the race of a person in trouble before responding to a call.

“That stuff might happen in big cities, but around here, we’re just good country people,” he said. “I work just as hard to save a person, whether they’re black, white or Mexican. Doing right does not have a color or nationality, and we’re not going to change who we are.”

He urged anyone with a problem with his department’s flag to get involved in the department instead of taking issue with the department.

“They should join their local volunteer fire department, help their community and then they would have a voice in what’s being done. Don’t gripe at me or complain if you’re not willing to work with us to better our community.”

When asked if he worried an organization or group may make his department remove the flag, he bristled at the suggestion.

“I will never fold to peer pressure on something like that,” he said. “It’s there, and as long as I’m chief, it’s going to remain there.”