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Group asks Jonesborough to reconsider Confederate veterans' status (Tennessee)
Kingsport Times-News ^ | 6-5-2009 | NET News Service

Posted on 06/06/2009 9:52:01 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo

Frustration and disappointment that have arisen out of the town of Jonesborough’s decision to not allow bricks honoring Confederate soldiers to be placed in the Veterans

Memorial Park have spread beyond the town limits.

The Southern Legal Resource Center, a nonprofit organization based in Black Mountain, N.C., that advocates in matters involving Southern history, heritage and culture, has contacted Jonesborough officials cautioning them about excluding the Confederate soldiers and urging them to reconsider the town’s current policy.

The town decided nearly a decade ago, when the park was originally built, that the park would honor soldiers who served in the U.S. military from the Revolutionary War to present.

Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in East Tennessee contacted the SLRC with their concerns Washington County’s Confederate soldiers would not be memorialized in Jonesborough.

In a letter to Mayor Kelly Wolfe, SLRC Executive Director Roger McCredie said that “considering that bricks honoring several Union soldiers are present in the memorial area, the town of Jonesborough’s exclusion of bricks honoring Confederate veterans from that area is blatantly discrimination and abridges the civil rights of their descendants.”

He goes on to urge the town to revise its position in the matter and to do the “legally and morally correct thing by admitting memorials to the Confederate dead to their rightful place in a municipal area set aside for honoring all of Jonesborough’s veterans.”

The letter references an excerpt from the Web site of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs showing that in 1906 the U.S. government began making headstones available for the graves of Confederate soldiers who died in Union captivity and also that in 1929 such headstones were furnished to Confederates who were buried in private cemeteries as well.

Attached to the letter was a copy of Public Law 85-425 as adopted in 1958, which defined the status of Confederate veterans and established for them federal pension rates exactly the same as those afforded to Union veterans.

Wolfe said town staff are working to ensure no laws are being violated.

“I’ve asked our town attorney, Mr. Jim Wheeler, for an opinion ... on our legal status with this issue,” Wolfe said. “The town of Jonesborough has no desire to unfairly discriminate against anyone, veteran or otherwise.”

Wheeler is looking into the situation and researching laws pertaining to the status of Confederate soldiers. Wolfe said he will present his opinion to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen at Monday evening’s meeting at Town Hall.

Because the memorial park is a town facility, the board could choose to revise the policy to allow Confederate soldiers to be included among those honored there.

“I’m sure the board will take steps if necessary to rectify this situation,” Wolfe said.

The Veterans Memorial Park has been in place outside the Visitors Center for about a decade. The park was rededicated at this year’s Memorial Day ceremony following nearly a year of renovation. Wolfe said the timing of the controversy surrounding the memorial is unfortunate as it follows the culmination of a great deal of hard work, time and dedication of those who contributed to the park’s renovations.

“I hope this whole debate doesn’t cause us to lose sight of just how wonderful the improvements to our recently completed veterans park are and how grateful we are to our Veterans Committee and especially to Mr. Marion Light for all their hard work.”


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: civilwar; confederate; dixie; scv
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To: Texas Fossil
The last Civil War was not fought about Slavery.

The war was about secession, and secession was largely about slavery. So in a roundabout way, slavery was pretty central to the conflict.

My point was that talk about Southerners not wanting to be "slaves on the corrupt government plantation" doesn't very accurately describe the causes of the war either.

If someone accepted the principle of slavery but didn't want it applied to themselves it's not like they were great proponents of freedom. And just what was the "slavery" that 1860s Republicans wanted to impose on Southerners?

21 posted on 06/06/2009 11:53:58 AM PDT by x
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

“Too bad there were not more Lees and less secessionists because Abraham Lincoln would have then peacefully served out his term to the benefit of most Americans, North and South.”

And from the rest of your “conclusion” it’s pretty obvious you have no clue as to why Lee said what he said.

By the time Lincoln had been elected, things had come to a head as far as the Southern states, their rights and the monopoly the North had on their shipping. Try digging alittle deeper before ascribing conclusions to Lee and Lincoln that don’t exist.


22 posted on 06/06/2009 12:30:08 PM PDT by swmobuffalo ("We didn't seek the approval of Code Pink and MoveOn.org before deciding what to do")
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To: x

“And just what was the “slavery” that 1860s Republicans wanted to impose on Southerners?”

The “Black Radical Republican” government in Washington and their surrogate carpetbaggers in the southern states ruthlessly subjected much of the South after the War.

Many voted with their feet and went GTT.

The war initially was NOT about slavery, but about protecting NE industry at the expense of Southern agriculture. Tariff issues. Hence the title “War of Northern Dominance”.

This is one of the most pointless conversations I remember and I think this is enough about a subject that is painful for me. And others.


23 posted on 06/06/2009 1:22:13 PM PDT by Texas Fossil (Once a Republic, Now a State, Still Texas)
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To: Texas Fossil; Non-Sequitur
This is one of the most pointless conversations I remember and I think this is enough about a subject that is painful for me. And others.

Pointless indeed. It's things like this that make it so hopeless:

The war initially was NOT about slavery, but about protecting NE industry at the expense of Southern agriculture. Tariff issues. Hence the title “War of Northern Dominance”.

You're welcome to tell family stories and make up names for the war. Let me know if you ever want to talk about the actual history of those days.

24 posted on 06/06/2009 1:43:43 PM PDT by x
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To: Texas Fossil; x
Hence the title “War of Northern Dominance”.

Oh Lord, not another name for the war? Will it never end?

25 posted on 06/06/2009 2:19:09 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur
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To: Non-Sequitur

I assure you it ended a very long time ago.

Wished I had never entered into the earlier conversation. It served absolutely no purpose, in that neither of us changed out mind about the root cause.

The only point I was trying to make was that the disdain for a corrupt central government is still very ingrained in the minds of many many people from the South part of the U.S.

We are seeing some of the regional conflict of interests that divided us then (not slavery, but economic). This time the old industrial states have lost a lot of their industry, some of which moved from Unionized labor problem to the non-union South. And at the same time those old industrial regions are where the highest taxes are and where the highest unemployment is centered.

What do you expect to happen in the NE, East, Great Lakes, and Southern Cal. regions as a result of the ongoing economic trainwreck? 6-9 months from now, it is not going to be pretty. Is Obozo and crowd going to raise taxes on everyone to support those regions. (Answer yes) Will it have consequences (Answer yes).


26 posted on 06/07/2009 2:24:06 PM PDT by Texas Fossil (Once a Republic, Now a State, Still Texas)
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