Bill Would Require State Flags to Show Blood on Pelican's Chest

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- An eighth-grader's school project could change the appearance of Louisiana's state flag. Urged by 14-year-old Joseph Louviere of Houma, a House committee has approved a bill that would require all new state flags to show three drops of blood on the pelican's chest, part of the description of the state's earliest flags. Louisiana's blue state flag shows a mother pelican feeding her brood of chicks in a nest over the state motto of "Union, Justice and Confidence." Historical renditions and descriptions of the flag also include three drops of blood on the mother's breast. Louviere wrote a school report last month on the flag. He presented it to his local legislator, Representative Damon Baldone, who is sponsoring the bill that would require Louisiana flags -- along with the official state seal -- to have three blood drops. The idea quickly hit home with members of the House Judiciary Committee, who unanimously approved the bill and sent it to the full House for debate.

This entry was posted by Blogger, on Wednesday, May 17, 2006.