Rebel Flag supporters hold second truck rally in parish

By: ELIZABETH WEST Associate Editor Southern Rebel Riders took to the roads of Evangeline Parish last Saturday with no destination set other than the place they would meet at, the Pine Prairie ballpark. The point of the ride according to Turkey Creek’s Jude Fontenot “is to keep our heritage alive.” Fontenot, leader of the pack of trucks on Saturday’s ride was adamant that for him the flag has nothing to do with racism or hate. “The reason why we do the ride is to show that we won’t let our heritage be taken away. We also want to show that the confederate flag is about our heritage, not about hate,” said Fontenot. The Saturday, July 18th ride was the second ride that the group has done and with this ride came new faces participating. One out of towner, Danny Buchanan traveled from Jennings to take part in the rebel ride. Buchanan who has participated in multiple rides said, “The last ride I did we went to the courthouse in Lake Charles.” For Buchanan the purpose of participating in these rides is to “keep the flag and heritage alive.” Heritage, not hate has become the groups slogan and has been printed on the back of tee shirts that the group has had made for their rides. With approximately 10 trucks in tow with Confederate and United States flags flying high on the backs of their trucks, the Southern Rebel Riders started their ride around 1:00 pm and continued until after the sun went down.