Ads with Confederate flag will be taken down

The words "Lift Every Voice and Vote" could soon replace campaign billboards in St. Louis that equated voting for changes to city government with the Confederate flag.  The image added intensity to an already heated campaign, with both camps wondering where the signs came from.  The question was answered in part Thursday when Gregory D. Colombo of south St. Louis County took responsibility for the signs that will soon be replaced by a message from the NAACP.  Colombo's family owns a bar in the city.  "I don't see it as inflammatory. I see it as raising awareness," Colombo said in an interview at Colombo's Tavern, where he also works. After television news crews starting arriving at the Manchester Avenue pub, Colombo had a change of heart. According to state law, most political advertisements must have the name and contact information of the group sponsoring the message. The Confederate flag billboard had on it "Paid for by Capital Resources Management, L.LC." Colombo's firm is GRC Capital Resource Management.  The proposals on the Nov. 2 ballot are labeled Propositions A, B, C and D. Together, they would convert several elected positions into appointed ones, cut the Board of Aldermen in half, allow for patronage jobs to be converted into civil service positions and consolidate decision-making power into the mayor's office. [more ]