A Senate vote

on a new Georgia state flag could come as early as today, some observers

predict.

But Sen. Mitch

Seabaugh, R-Newnan, predicted the issue would come to a vote Tuesday.

He said he had received 150 e-mails since news of a compromise on the

flag broke Wednesday afternoon.

"House

members didn't have time to check with their constituents," Seabaugh

said, admitting with a laugh that he had plenty of e-mails to read before

deciding how to vote.

The proposed

new flag, billed as a compromise between black leaders who want to remove

the Confederate battle emblem from Georgia's flag altogether and history

buffs who want it to remain, was approved swiftly by the House Wednesday,

after being introduced only hours earlier by Gov. Roy Barnes. The text

of Barnes' comments is on today's front page.

In the Fayette

delegation, Republican Rep. Kathy Cox of Peachtree City voted in favor

of the change, while Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Sharpsburg, the House Republican

leader, voted against. "I was terribly shocked and surprised,"

said Westmoreland following the vote. "I'm anxious to see how the

public responds."

Westmoreland

also wondered about claims that the proposed flag represents a compromise,

saying no one approached him about it. "This was done in the middle

of the night," he said. "I don't know who the parties were that

were consulted on it."

The proposed

flag is essentially the state's original flag the state seal against a

blue field with the addition of miniature versions of all of the state

flags through history across the bottom, which means that the Confederate

battle emblem will remain on the flag in a much less prominent way than

before.

Black groups

that were pushing for removal of the emblem have hailed the proposal as

an acceptable compromise, though they have made no secret that the long-term

goal is removal of the emblem altogether.

That worries

Scott Gilbert Jr., commander of Fayette County's LaFayette McLaws Camp

of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. "Their next move will be to

try and take the little flags off," he said, adding that he fears

opponents will then seek to have the Confederate emblem removed even from

historic sites.

"There's

nothing in the past few years of these so-called controversies to indicate

otherwise," he said.

The rapid movement

on the flag issue has caught many observers off guard, including Gilbert.

"I'm shocked, and extremely upset," he said Thursday as debate

continued.

He said the

chapter expects to have a formal statement by Monday. Meanwhile, he has

talked to several members, "and we're not happy about it."

Sen. Greg Hecht,

who represents north Fayette, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

John Munford

and John Thompson contributed to this report.