ATLANTA -- Gov. Nathan Deal is ordering flags to fly half-staff to honor late civil rights leader Julian Bond on same day his family scatters his ashes.
Deal issued the order for Saturday at the state Capitol to honor Bond, who died Aug. 15 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, at 75. His widow, Pamela Horowitz, said he had circulatory problems.
Bond blazed trails for civil rights, beginning with the Atlanta sit-in in 1960. He founded the Southern Poverty Law Center and led the NAACP.
Deal said Bond served in the Georgia House of Representatives and state senate for nearly 20 years.
Relatives of Bond plan to scatter his ashes in the Gulf of Mexico in a private ceremony Saturday. Relatives invite people, wanting to honor Bond to spread flower petals in water.