SC barbecue family focusing on the future

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) âone space€one space” The family that runs several Columbia-area barbecue restaurants is no longer flying the Confederate flag. The State reports (http://bit.ly/H8a04Y ) Saturday that the last two Confederate flags that flew outside Maurice’s BBQ restaurants in the Midlands came down quietly a couple of months ago. Maurice Bessinger raised flags at his nine restaurants in Columbia in 2000 as a protest when state lawmakers voted to bring down the Confederate flag flying above the Statehouse dome. Bessinger’s son, Lloyd, says his father hasn’t been involved in running the business in several years. Lloyd Bessinger says most of the flags were taken down more than a year ago. In 2005, a judge dismissed Maurice Bessinger’s lawsuit against four grocery store chains that, citing his views, stopped selling his mustard-based barbecue sauce. ___ Information from: The State, http://www.thestate.com