GEORGETOWN, Ohio — A county's flag that features a burley tobacco plant will fly at the Statehouse during Ohio's bicentennial next year, upsetting smoking opponents.

        Brown County's flag heralding its tobacco-growing history along the Ohio River will fly at the Statehouse along with flags from Ohio's other 87 counties.

        “Those people have tricked Ohio into saying it's proud of a crop that has killed millions of people. They ought to be ashamed,” said John F. Banzhaf III, executive director of ASH, a national anti-smoking group.

        “If they can do that, why not fly a flag with a marijuana plant, or something with a bottle of gin on it?” he said.

        Tobacco backers say smoking is legal, and Brown County has a right to select its own flag.

        “We aren't bootlegging or growing marijuana and cocaine,” said Orville Whalen, a fourth-generation tobacco farmer and president of the Brown County Agricultural Society.

        “It's a legal product. If some people think that flying a tobacco flag over the Statehouse is a protest, well, I guess you can look at it that way. They got a right to their opinion.”

        Al Rhonemus, president of the Brown County Historical Society, said the flag is a symbol “that we're fighting for our livelihood down here.”

        Ed Cruttenden, director of the state Agriculture Department's tobacco office, said the flag “is a statement that they need some focus on the problems down there. Right now, their whole way of life is on the verge of coming apart at the seams.”

        Lee Yoakum, a spokesman for the Ohio Bicentennial Commission, said the choice of a flag was up to each county.

Children's joins anti-terror fight
Gun robberies soar in Cincinnati
Lazy? Crazy? It's just hot
Singers seek gay support
Collector fired up about cannon
July Fourth events
New dialysis procedure promising
New rules aid organ donations
Obituary: Donn Hershberger, mentor to many
Tristate A.M. Report
Tristate native helps balloonist's Internet site fly
BRONSON: Fireworks
HOWARD: Some Good News
KORTE: City Hall
SAMPLES: Bee facts
SMITH AMOS: Drive-by heartbreak
Don't let commuter train bypass us, Hamilton says
Hot rod racer in drug trouble
Jury returns today in sex-with-teen case
Liberty Twp. seeks money for firehouse
Pizza maker accused of illegal 'toppings'
Union Centre gets new project
Warren GOP fretting about state races
Ohio Lottery sales up $68M for year
Schlichter's brother running for state House
Tobacco on county flag draws flak
Auto buyers owed
New lease on life for Dry Ridge outlet center
Town fired up over July 4