'Zapped': Agency swats down prospect of mosquito flag for Mississippi
Jackson: Mississippi will not put a huge mosquito on its new state flag.
The state's Department of Archives and History says that a design featuring the blood-sucking insect had slipped through the screening process and should not have been among the finalists posted online on Monday.
Mississippi recently retired the last state banner with the Confederate battle emblem that’s widely condemned as racist. A nine-member commission will recommend a replacement flag that, by legislative mandate, cannot include the Confederate symbol and must have the phrase, “In God We Trust".
In the first round of a selection process, the public submitted nearly 3000 designs. The commission narrowed that to 147 proposals making the second round, and Archives and History put those on its website. One had a giant mosquito surrounded by a circle of stars, a design that has since been zapped.
“The mosquito flag advanced to round two due to a typo in a list of flag numbers submitted by one commissioner,” the agency said in a statement. “That commissioner has requested that the flag be removed from the round two gallery, and MDAH staff has complied.”
The state is not among the worst in the country for mosquitoes, but in summer people along the Mississippi River tend to complain about them.
Many of the remaining designs have magnolias and stars. Some have wavy lines that could represent the waters of the Mississippi River or the Gulf of Mexico.
On Friday, the nine commissioners will choose the final five. By early September, they will agree on a single design to put on the November 3 statewide ballot.
The commissioners could accept one of the public submissions, combine elements from different designs or start from scratch and draw their own.
Recent Posts
-
5 Simple Ways to Prevent Pest Infestations
No one wants pests in their home, yet thousands of homeowners deal with pest infestations every year …12th Dec 2022 -
Mosquitoes have neuronal fail-safes to make sure they can always smell humans
When female mosquitoes are looking for a human to bite, they smell a unique cocktail of body odors t …25th Aug 2022 -
New York City sees a record-breaking number of West Nile virus-infected mosquitoes
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported two human cases of the West Nile …17th Aug 2022