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DAVID F. SHERMAN Managing Editor

+ INDEPENDENCE DAY - A family vacation last week gave me the opportunity to visit several sites in Atlanta. Not many people named "Sherman" are welcomed in that southern city, but time seems to have healed many of the wounds left by Gen. William T. Sherman (no relation) in the summer of 1864. However, my great-great grandfather did fight in the Union Army during the Civil War, against the rebel flag that still adorns pickup trucks and husky men's biceps alike.

We visited Stone Mountain, site of a massive carved memorial to three leaders of the Confederate States of America. There on the mountainside are Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, and Gens. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Lee and Jackson are remembered through large, impressive monuments at Gettysburg and Bull Run, respectively, but this is the most prominent tribute to Davis I have seen.

Yes, it has been 146 years since 11 southern states seceded from the Union, and 142 since they returned.

Without making too much of this, I am having difficulty sharing southern pride for this trio. Davis was a graduate of West Point and served as an elected member of the U.S. Congress before renouncing his citizenship and approving the bombardment of Fort Sumter, the act that signaled the start of the war. Lee and Jackson also graduated from West Point.

Today, if any American military officers were to form a new nation and take up arms against their old government, it would be described as treason. Davis, Lee and Jackson stood at the head of an institution that defended the concept of states rights as well as the institution of slavery.

Thus the ambivalence in my mind.

The Stone Mountain experience was capped by a laser show and fireworks. After the figures of the three men were shown charging on horseback with swords raised (except for Davis), there appeared an image of a saddened Lee breaking his sword in two to symbolize the end of hostilities. The graphics took the two pieces of the sword and brought them together in the shape of a reunited country. That was nicely done.

Once the show's producers had gotten this glorification out of their system, the show had a strong, modern patriotic theme that prominently featured the Stars and Stripes as well as images of members of the armed forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The grand finale was staged to the sounds of "Proud to be an American" by Lee Greenwood. The lyrics talk about freedom - something the slaves did not enjoy - as well as the men who died to protect that inalienable right. Does that cover both Union and Confederate soldiers or just men and women from our time? There are no easy answers here.

I walked away with mixed emotions. The glorification of three men who no longer wanted to be Americans as defined at that time continues to puzzle me, but maybe Independence Day is also about the freedom to forgive.

+ WRITERS - Students in grades three through 12 are invited to the 2007 Young Writers' Camp sponsored by the Western New York Writing Project. The camp is from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 23- Aug. 3 at Canisius College.

A brochure is available online at www.canisius.edu/wnywp or by calling 888-3134.