Where Is the Flag?

U.S. District Judge Herbert Christenberry, 67, was born and bred in New Orleans, is an old Huey Long man, was named U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana by Frank lin Roosevelt in 1942, and was appointed to his present judicial post by Harry Truman in 1947. He is a tough old bird, and he has not been notable for taking any guff from anyone.

On July 10 Judge Christenberry issued an order insisting on police protection for civil rights demonstrators in Bogalusa, La. "I'm not a swinging liberal," Christenberry said last week.

"But you should do everything under the law to guarantee the constitutional rights of Negroes."

He was therefore enraged when town and county cops turned their backs while whites beat and otherwise harassed civil rights marchers in Bogalusa a couple of weeks ago. Christenberry cited Bogalusa's Public Safety Commissioner Arnold Spiers, Police Chief Claxton Knight, and Patrolman Donald Penton for civil contempt of court. Last week, during hearings, the judge was further enraged to see films of Bogalusa demonstrations which showed whites waving Confederate flags everywhere. "Except on the post office, are there any American flags there anywhere?" he asked. When some courtroom spectators laughed, Christenberry went on: "This is a serious business. Every picture I see, there are only Confederate flags. There must have been at least one American flag."

At the end of the hearings, the judge found Spiers, Knight and Penton guilty, but he imposed no penalties immediately. Instead, Christenberry gave Spiers and Knight seven days to create and implement a security plan for Bogalusa's civil rights workers. Failure to do so, he warned, would mean fines of $100 a day for each. Failure to comply will also put Knight and Spiers in the custody of the U.S. Attorney General, who would then have the power to jail them or treat them like parolees. Penton got off with what amounted to a warning.

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