Kennesaw Flag Fight – Need Your Help
Gentlemen,
We need your help. It was discovered recently from members of SCV Camp McDonald of Kennesaw that the memorial Battle Flag and flag pole has been removed from the City of Kennesaw ’s Memorial / Centennial Park .. The memorial Battle Flag was erected at the park in 1962 to memorialize the 100th anniversary of the great locomotive chase between the Texas and the General and to honor all the Confederate units that was trained and sent to the front lines at the Confederate training camp, Camp McDonald.
On the March 7 Georgia Division Executive Council meeting, a motion was made for the Georgia Division to draft a resolution to the City of Kennesaw requesting that they put back the pole and Battle Flag. The motion passed unanimously. I will be delivering that resolution to the Mayor and copies to each City Council members tomorrow. It has also been recommended that each Camp in the Georgia Division draft a respectful resolution (worded somewhat different from the Division’s resolution) to sent to the Mayor and City Council encouraging them to re-erect the memorial flag pole and Battle Flag.
I would ask each of you to please go a step further to help get our Battle Flag back up. Please call Kennesaw’s City Hall to voice your objections, e-mail the Mayor and the City Council Members and send them a personal letter if you can encouraging them to put the Battle Flag back up, all in a respectful manner.
Attached and below is the resolution from Judge Advocate Dan Coleman. Also below is the address and phone number to Kennesaw’s city hall, just use that address and put to the attention to the mayor and each council member. Our efforts may encourage them to do the right thing and put the Battle Flag and pole back up and hopefully avoid this matter becoming another Ringgold Flag Fight. Thank you for your help. I will keep everyone up-dated with what I know about the situation.
Please feel free to forward this transmission to anyone that would be willing to help.
Kennesaw City Hall
Attn:
2529 J.O. Stephenson Ave.
Kennesaw, GA 30144
770-424-8274
Fax: 770-429-4559
Mark Mathews
Mayor
(770) 424-8274
mmathews@kennesaw-ga.gov
John A. Dowdy
Council Post 1
Cell: (770) 560-7435
jdowdy@kennesaw-ga.gov
Tim Killingsworth
Council Post 2
Cell: (678)873-7146
tkillingsworth@kennesaw-ga.gov
Bruce Jenkins
Council Post 3
Cell: (678) 251-6381
bjenkins@kennesaw-ga.gov
Bill Thrash
Council Post 4
Cell: (404) 392-3105
bthrash@kennesaw-ga.gov
Cindy Giles
Council Post 5
Cell: (678) 251-6380
cgiles@kennesaw-ga.gov.
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS THE SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS (SCV) IS AN HISTORICAL 501 C-3 ASSOCIATION OF DESENDANTS OF CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS AND IS STRICTLY PATRIOTIC, HISTORICAL, EDUCATIONAL, FRATERNAL, BENEVOLENT, NON-POLITICAL, NON-RACIAL AND NON-SECTARIAN; and
WHEREAS THE MISSION OF THE SCV IS TO DEFEND THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIER’S GOOD NAME, GUARD HIS HISTORY AND SEE THAT THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE SOUTH IS PRESENTED TO FUTURE GENERATIONS; and
WHEREAS THE SESQUICENTENNIAL OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES IS RAPIDLY APPROACHING AND THE SCV IS PREPARING TO DISPLAY OUR SOUTHERN HERITAGE TO PEOPLE WHO WISH TO VISIT OUR HISTORICAL SITES AND LEARN ABOUT THE MOST DEFINING MOMENT IN OUR NATION’S HISTORY; and
WHEREAS LARGE NUMBERS OF THE SCV MEMBERSHIP HAS VISITED THE CITY OF KENNESAW AND ITS MUSEUM AND MEMORIAL MONUMENTS ; and
WHEREAS THE AREA ALL AROUND KENNESAW IS RICH IN HISTORY SUCH AS THE GREAT LOCOMOTIVE CHASE AND CAMP McDONALD ; and
WHEREAS THE CONFEDERATE BATTLEFLAG AND ITS FLAGPOLE HAS BEEN IN PLACE FOR ALMOST 50 YEARS HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THE MEMORIAL LOCATED NEAR THE MUSEUM; and
WHEREAS CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS ARE PROTECTED BY LAW IN THE OFFICIAL CODE OF GEORGIA ANNOTATED; and
BY UNANIMOUS VOTE, THE EXECUTIVE COUNSEL OF THE GEORGIA DIVISION OF THE SCV AT ITS MEETING ON MARCH 7, 2009 HEREBY RESOLVES AND CALLS UPON THE MAYOR AND THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENNESAW TO CAUSE THE BATTLEFLAG AND ITS FLAGPOLE TO BE REPLACED IN ITS PLACE OF HONOR. OUR HERITAGE IS NOT TO BE DESTROYED OR HIDDEN.
DANIEL A. COLEMAN, JUDGE ADVOCATE
Timothy F. Pilgrim
Commander, Georgia Division 12th Brigade
http://www.scvcamp.org/georgia12thbrigade
Sons of Confederate Veterans
Smyrna GA.
Email: timfpilgrim@yahoo.com
