Restaurant Owner in Orangeburg Wants to Take Down Confederate Flag.
PAUL: Forty-six minutes past the hour right now. In the City of Ferguson Missouri will pay more than $1 million over the death of Michael Brown. The city's attorney says they settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Brown's family for $1.5 million. Now, a police officer, remember, shot and killed Michael Brown in 2014. The officer was not charged after there was an investigation, but the shooting set off weeks of protests across the country.</s>BLACKWELL: I traveled to Central South Carolina this week, where there's a Confederate flag that's flying high above a restaurant in the Town of Orangeburg. Now, some customers hate it. Others revere it. What does the owner of that restaurant think about the flag? Truth is, right now, it doesn't matter.</s>BLACKWELL (voice-over): This broad stretch of John C. Calhoun drive is flanked by two unambiguous landmarks, and each, in its own way, signifies exactly where you are. On the right, a sign welcoming you to Orangeburg, South Carolina, population roughly 13,000 and more than three quarters black. On the left, a Confederate flag. The flag flies atop this pole, right next to the sign for the Edisto River Creamery. By now, you know the flag's</s>UNIDENTFIED MALE: It needs to come down.</s>UNIDENTFIED FEMALE: I never stopped there and don't plan to as long as that flag's still up there.</s>UNIDENTFIED FEMALE: It's not bothering anybody. It's not hurting anybody.</s>UNIDENTFIED FEMALE: It definitely needs to come down. I think they will get more business, honestly, if they do take it down.</s>BLACKWELL (voice-over): And what does the owner of this restaurant have to say?</s>TOMMY DARAS, OWNER, EDISTO RIVER CREAMERY: That flag needs to be moved. And if there's any possible way that I can do it, it's going to be gone.</s>BLACKWELL: But right now, you can't?</s>DARAS: Right now, we're gridlocked.</s>BLACKWELL (voice-over): To understand why Tommy Daras cannot remove the flag, you need to know about this man.</s>MAURICE BESSINGER, FOUNDER, MAURICE'S PIGGIE PARK: The South shall rise again.</s>BLACKWELL (voice-over): Maurice Bessinger, politician, activist, and founder of Maurice's Piggie Park chain of barbecue restaurants across Central South Carolina. In this 2008 interview with Newsweek, Bessinger showed off his collection of Confederate memorabilia that filled his restaurants. He was a fierce defender of States' Rights and segregation. In 2004 autobiography, Bessinger called the Civil Rights Act unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court ruling that integrated public schools, a really bad decision. Then in 2000, when this happened at the South Carolina State Capital --</s>BESSINGER: I raised the flag out here on the big pole to protest the taking down of our heritage flag.</s>BLACKWELL (voice-over): Maurice Bessinger died in 2014. Of the flags outside of his stores, Bessinger wrote, there they will stay. I will fight on because this is what God wants me to do. A year after his death, Tommy Daras and his wife bought the Orangeburg location from Bessinger's children. But, not all of it.</s>BLACKWELL: Before Bessinger died, he sold a tiny bit of land surrounding this flagpole a little more than three thousandths of an acre for just $5 to the sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 842.</s>BUD BRAXTON, MEMBER, CAMP 842: We've been trying ever since to honor, honor the Confederate soldier.</s>BLACKWELL (voice-over): Bud Braxton is Commander of the group's 8th Brigade and member of Camp 842.</s>BRAXTON: He put it in the hands of people that he trusted because he loved his Confederate ancestors and his Confederate history just like we do. So there was nothing sinister.</s>BLACKWELL: Initially, Daras accepted the flag and the nearby marker. But that changed weeks after his grand opening. The group flew a larger flag in the aftermath of the 2015 church shooting in Charleston. Dylann Roof killed nine church members after calling for a race war.</s>DARAS: From that day forward, all hell broke loose for me. Because, you know, there -- my windows were broken out. My phone was ringing offer the hook. My employees were harassed. I disliked by people in the parking lot. Everyone in town assumed it was my property. It looks like it's attached to this building.</s>UNIDENTFIED MALE: I know it's unfortunate for him. But me personally and a lot of people I know will not shop here because of this flag.</s>BLACKWELL (voice-over): Maurice Bessinger's battle for the flag rages on. Daras has hired a lawyer.</s>DARAS: That flag needs to be moved.</s>BLACKWELL (voice-over): The Sons of the Confederate Veterans say they're ready.</s>BRAXTON: Not</s>BLACKWELL: Well, the attorney for the ice cream shop's owner says that corner is zoned for commercial use and the flag pole and marker should be moved because they're violating zoning rules. But the city, just a couple of days ago, rejected that approach. The attorney plans to appeal. There's also a question of who actually owns that land. Daras's attorney says that their land sale records show no exception for the roughly 130-square feet that Bessinger sold to the Sons of Confederate veterans 10 years earlier. It's deed versus deed, and this could end up in court.</s>PAUL: Well, there's a new report that uncovers how much former President Obama knew about Russia's attempt to meddle in the 2016 elections. It's the top of the hour now. The White House's reaction about the possibility that President Trump did not -- or President Obama, excuse me, did not do enough to stop Moscow's alleged hacking. And on tomorrow's episode of "United Shades of America" W. Kamau Bell visits the Appalachia Region, that's where the loss of the coal industry has really caused towns to just slowly die away.</s>UNIDENTFIED MALE: We went from 18 mines in this town to three. We went from 1,500 employees to 150 people working.</s>UNIDENTFIED MALE: We all are in an economic downturn in the coal industry.</s>W. KAMAU BELL, HOST, UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA: And this is the main industry in Appalachia?</s>UNIDENTFIED MALE: It is. With the loss of those jobs, it's really devastating for families and communities.</s>UNIDENTFIED MALE: We strife to get by. I just want a good job, that's it.</s>UNIDENTFIED MALE: No jobs leads to no money, which leads to depression, which leads to drugs.</s>BELL: How easy is it to find drugs down here?</s>UNIDENTFIED FEMALE: All you got to do is walk down the sidewalk.</s>UNIDENTFIED MALE: I'm concerned about the future.