Alva Review-Courier -

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi man who submitted a proposal to place a giant mosquito on the new state flag, a design that went viral on social media, said he created it as a joke.

Thomas Rosete, a deckhand on the Yazoo River, told the Clarion Ledger he created the "mosquito flag," which features a giant mosquito surrounded by a circle of stars, to poke fun at a coworker who had been against changing the flag. Working on the river, he said he is very familiar with Mississippi mosquitoes and it felt like a fitting way to represent the state.

"They're everywhere," he told the Ledger. "They'...