After the horrific attacks on September 11th, I found myself struggling with a way to help out those directly affected by the disaster. I hardly had any cash to speak of, and wanted to do more. I then decided to take my US flag, and my friend Carol and head down to Oakland.

I knew that I wanted to drape the flag on something symbolic, my first thoughts were that of an angel, but the angels that I wanted to use were out of reach or inaccessible.

Then I drove by the "Lion of Atlanta." The lion was an adaptation of the "Lion of Lucerne," a monument designed for the fallen soldiers of the Swiss National Guard. In place of the Swiss flag, a Confederate flag was substituted for the Atlanta sculpture. September 11... now the lion was going in for a third adaptation to commemorate the victims of our country's current tragedy.

I draped the American flag on top of the Confederate one, so that the stars and strips would be seen clearly and made it appear that the lion was weeping on the Red, White, and Blue.

The cemetery sold the photos with 100% of all the proceeds going to the September 11th Fund. Luckily, we were able to raise a few thousand dollars. The local AJC ran the store in the Homefront section.

The next day, much to my surprise, I received a phone call from Oakland, explaining that the cemetery was shut down due to threats against me and the staff of the cemetery.  A Federal investigator was sent in.  A select group was outraged that I would "desecrate" the monument by placing an American Flag upon it.

I then received a stack of hate mail with threats, one even suggested that I, "burn in Hell with General Sherman and his hosts." Through all the controversy, I still stand behind the image and the idea that it was to help. For that, I am proud.

To those of you who were offended by the image, my apologies to you. The image wasnt in any way meant to degrade the loss of the lives of the confederate soldiers, as the emails and death threats to me suggested.