| *Confederate Memorial in Elmwood Cemetery is not allowed to fly the Confederate Flag over the men's graves. |
RHINOTIMES
Thursday, January 20, 2005 Charlotte, North Carolina Volume IV No. 3
"Confederate Countdown"
By M.E. PELLIN - EDITOR
A community relations committee is expected to deliver a series of recommendations to the city manager this Friday that
includes one proposal to remove a controversial Confederate flag flying at Elmwood Cemetery. But it looks like somebody
might have beaten the recommendations to the punch.
Earlier this week, local preservationist and long-time Elmwood Cemetery advocate Mark Palmer filed a police report that
about 50 flags had been stolen from Elmwood Cemetery. The stolen flags included the large Confederate one that until this
week had flown over a Confederate memorial in the cemetery, as well as more than 50 smaller Confederate and U.S. flags
from individual graves.
“I can’t believe somebody would actually do something like this,” Palmer said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s bad enough the
city is trying to remove a piece of Southern heritage from a Confederate memorial, but for somebody to go around stealing
the flags is an outrage.”
Palmer said the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department was investigating his report, but that no leads were immediately
forthcoming.
What will be forthcoming, though, are recommendations from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee
(CRC), which was charged a few months ago with the task of developing options for dealing with a flag that has become a
political and social hot potato.
CRC Chairman Willie Ratchford said Tuesday that he expected the CRC’s executive committee to present a recommendation
to City Manager Pam Syfert this Friday that included several action items that center not only on the Confederate flag in
Elmwood Cemetery, but also developing an overall flag policy for the city.
The recommendations include: establishing a moratorium on any new flags erected in Elmwood Cemetery; removing the
Confederate flag that is currently flying (well, at least until it was allegedly stolen this week) at the cemetery and placing it in
a glass case somewhere near Elmwood’s Confederate memorial; replacing the Confederate flag with the N.C. State flag of
1861 or another Confederate flag that, in the words of the committee’s recommendations, “has not been linked to hate
groups”; allowing the city to fly the Confederate flag at Elmwood on certain days like Memorial Day or Flag Day; and to
develop a flag flying policy for public property, including cemeteries.
While city officials said earlier this week that no final decision has been made on which recommendation should be followed,
Palmer suspects that might not be the case. He thinks a decision to remove the flag has already been made. Palmer said that
he visited Elmwood Cemetery Wednesday afternoon and said that the rope and rigging used to hoist the Confederate flag and
hold it in place have already been removed from the flagpole.
“It looks like somebody went to a lot of effort to remove those things,” Palmer said. “They just didn’t come off. I think that
makes it look like a decision has already been made to take this flag down and keep it down.”
The possibility that the Confederate flag could be removed from the pole that stands atop a Confederate memorial has
Palmer, and hundreds of other people who consider the flag a symbol of Southern heritage and not hate, incensed. Palmer,
who heads a grassroots group called Historic Preservation of Elmwood and Pinewood Cemetery, has collected more than
1,500 signatures on a petition to keep the Confederate flag flying at Elmwood. Comments accompany some of the signatures
and show the passion that some people have for keeping the flag in place.
“Our family owns several plots in Elmwood Cemetery and we honor our dead,” reads one contribution. “It seems that the
Charlotte City Council can’t understand that.”
“Our soldiers fought for this flag,” reads another entry. “It makes no difference as to their rank, race, religion or State; they
earned the right to have the flag they served fly in their honor.”
Ratchford said the backlash doesn’t come as a surprise.
“We figured out a long time ago that once we got involved with this that regardless of the decision that is made, there will be
some people who won’t be happy with it,” Ratchford said.
The flag controversy began last summer when City Councilmember Warren Turner requested a review of the city’s policy
on flying Confederate flags at the city-owned Elmwood Cemetery. Turner said he had several constituents raise concerns
about the message the flag – seen by some as a symbol of hate and slavery – was sending.
Turner said that because the city owns the cemetery some might perceive that message as being endorsed by the city. In
that light, the council directed the CRC to begin a review of possible options for dealing with the flag. Last fall the CRC held
a community forum to receive public input on what should be done with the flag. That information, along with research
from the city attorney’s office on how other cities have dealt with similar circumstances, was supposed to be used as
guideposts for the eventual recommendations.
Angeles Ortega, vice chairperson of the CRC’s executive committee that compiled the list of recommendations, said ample
consideration was given to public feedback the committee received from both the community forum and also a city website
where people could voice their opinions.
Yet the overwhelming public sentiment that was returned as feedback indicated that most people who bothered to contact
the website or attend the forum preferred the flag remain flying.
On the website, for example, more than 300 people indicated a preference for leaving the flag alone, versus only 46
respondents that wanted it removed. The split was equally as large from the community forum, Ratchford said.
“A majority of people who showed up, it was their considered opinion the flag should be left like it is,” he said.
Ortega said the CRC’s executive committee respected that feedback, but that its recommendations were meant to provide,
“a solution that wouldn’t offend people, but would also honor the past.” She also said that more people probably would have
expressed opinions to have the flag removed if they had known about the community forum and website – or if they had
even known a Confederate flag was flying in a city-owned cemetery.
“It’s funny how this thing has blown up because not a lot of people even knew it was there,” Ortega said.
But the people who knew it was there, and want it to remain there, aren’t laughing.
“It’s a real slap in the face,” Palmer said. “They ask for the public’s opinion, we give it, and they just ignore it and do what
they want. There were other options they could have taken from what people suggested that were totally ignored.”
One of those options, culled from the community forum, included keeping the flag in place accompanied by a plaque that
would detail the flag’s historical significance and its unique relationship to Elmwood Cemetery, Palmer said. The flag marks
the spot of a monument for the Confederate soldiers who died in battle during the Civil War and are buried in Elmwood.
Other suggestions included flying the existing Confederate flag at half-mast or decorating each Confederate headstone with
a Confederate flag.
“Some how,” Palmer said, “none of those suggestions made it into the final recommendations.”
They should have, according to County Commissioner Jim Puckett. He said the Confederate flag at Elmwood should remain
flying.
“I can understand and respect the concerns some people have, but it’s not like this is a state capital,” said Puckett, who has
been a strong defender of Elmwood Cemetery and its historical aspects. “This is a cemetery and a Confederate memorial at
that and it’s an entirely different matter. I mean at what point do you take the leap from here and start chiseling off the
Confederate flags that are engraved on headstones?
“I can’t figure out the insensitivity in some people to the respect you give soldiers,” Puckett said. “It’s the same type
situation as American flags that fly over cemeteries in France and Germany and across the world. I find it appropriate
because of what it is, a memorial to the soldiers who died fighting for their country. If you can’t understand the historical
significance of that in this case, I’m not sure you’re qualified to be part of the debate.”
When the flag controversy first started brewing months ago, Puckett predicted it would come down to a case of all or
nothing that would likely result in removing the flag.
A final resolution, based on the CRC’s recommendations, could be leaning in that direction. City Manager Syfert has the
authority to take whatever action she thinks is appropriate based on the recommendations she receives. Syfert said she
couldn’t comment on any final action she might take until she is presented with the recommendations on Friday, but said
she would likely make a decision without brining the issue back to council first for more discussion.
“If things have been delegated to me I try not to put that back on the council,” Syfert said. “But if they (councilmembers)
want me to pursue an option outside of what I present to them, or even look at different options, I have no problem with
that.”
Councilmember Turner, who started the whole flag flap, originally said he would prefer to see the flag lowered – but that
compromise was rejected by the people who want to keep the flag like it is. Barring any last minute change that would put
that option back on the table, Turner said he would likely accept whatever decision and recommendation Syfert presents.
“I’m confident that the committee and city staff have done a thorough job researching this topic and feel comfortable
agreeing with the recommendations they make based on that research,” Turner said.
Ortega said she would like to see the flag removed and placed in a glass case on the cemetery grounds.
That suggestion fell flat with Puckett.
“I think it would be appropriate to keep it flying and have a glass case with some historical background on the flag,” he said.
“But to just put the flag in a glass case? That would just lead to more problems. I mean, good grief, how long do you think it
would last like that? They can’t even keep people from stealing one that’s up a flag pole.”
Thursday, January 20, 2005 Charlotte, North Carolina Volume IV No. 3
"Confederate Countdown"
By M.E. PELLIN - EDITOR
A community relations committee is expected to deliver a series of recommendations to the city manager this Friday that
includes one proposal to remove a controversial Confederate flag flying at Elmwood Cemetery. But it looks like somebody
might have beaten the recommendations to the punch.
Earlier this week, local preservationist and long-time Elmwood Cemetery advocate Mark Palmer filed a police report that
about 50 flags had been stolen from Elmwood Cemetery. The stolen flags included the large Confederate one that until this
week had flown over a Confederate memorial in the cemetery, as well as more than 50 smaller Confederate and U.S. flags
from individual graves.
“I can’t believe somebody would actually do something like this,” Palmer said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s bad enough the
city is trying to remove a piece of Southern heritage from a Confederate memorial, but for somebody to go around stealing
the flags is an outrage.”
Palmer said the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department was investigating his report, but that no leads were immediately
forthcoming.
What will be forthcoming, though, are recommendations from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee
(CRC), which was charged a few months ago with the task of developing options for dealing with a flag that has become a
political and social hot potato.
CRC Chairman Willie Ratchford said Tuesday that he expected the CRC’s executive committee to present a recommendation
to City Manager Pam Syfert this Friday that included several action items that center not only on the Confederate flag in
Elmwood Cemetery, but also developing an overall flag policy for the city.
The recommendations include: establishing a moratorium on any new flags erected in Elmwood Cemetery; removing the
Confederate flag that is currently flying (well, at least until it was allegedly stolen this week) at the cemetery and placing it in
a glass case somewhere near Elmwood’s Confederate memorial; replacing the Confederate flag with the N.C. State flag of
1861 or another Confederate flag that, in the words of the committee’s recommendations, “has not been linked to hate
groups”; allowing the city to fly the Confederate flag at Elmwood on certain days like Memorial Day or Flag Day; and to
develop a flag flying policy for public property, including cemeteries.
While city officials said earlier this week that no final decision has been made on which recommendation should be followed,
Palmer suspects that might not be the case. He thinks a decision to remove the flag has already been made. Palmer said that
he visited Elmwood Cemetery Wednesday afternoon and said that the rope and rigging used to hoist the Confederate flag and
hold it in place have already been removed from the flagpole.
“It looks like somebody went to a lot of effort to remove those things,” Palmer said. “They just didn’t come off. I think that
makes it look like a decision has already been made to take this flag down and keep it down.”
The possibility that the Confederate flag could be removed from the pole that stands atop a Confederate memorial has
Palmer, and hundreds of other people who consider the flag a symbol of Southern heritage and not hate, incensed. Palmer,
who heads a grassroots group called Historic Preservation of Elmwood and Pinewood Cemetery, has collected more than
1,500 signatures on a petition to keep the Confederate flag flying at Elmwood. Comments accompany some of the signatures
and show the passion that some people have for keeping the flag in place.
“Our family owns several plots in Elmwood Cemetery and we honor our dead,” reads one contribution. “It seems that the
Charlotte City Council can’t understand that.”
“Our soldiers fought for this flag,” reads another entry. “It makes no difference as to their rank, race, religion or State; they
earned the right to have the flag they served fly in their honor.”
Ratchford said the backlash doesn’t come as a surprise.
“We figured out a long time ago that once we got involved with this that regardless of the decision that is made, there will be
some people who won’t be happy with it,” Ratchford said.
The flag controversy began last summer when City Councilmember Warren Turner requested a review of the city’s policy
on flying Confederate flags at the city-owned Elmwood Cemetery. Turner said he had several constituents raise concerns
about the message the flag – seen by some as a symbol of hate and slavery – was sending.
Turner said that because the city owns the cemetery some might perceive that message as being endorsed by the city. In
that light, the council directed the CRC to begin a review of possible options for dealing with the flag. Last fall the CRC held
a community forum to receive public input on what should be done with the flag. That information, along with research
from the city attorney’s office on how other cities have dealt with similar circumstances, was supposed to be used as
guideposts for the eventual recommendations.
Angeles Ortega, vice chairperson of the CRC’s executive committee that compiled the list of recommendations, said ample
consideration was given to public feedback the committee received from both the community forum and also a city website
where people could voice their opinions.
Yet the overwhelming public sentiment that was returned as feedback indicated that most people who bothered to contact
the website or attend the forum preferred the flag remain flying.
On the website, for example, more than 300 people indicated a preference for leaving the flag alone, versus only 46
respondents that wanted it removed. The split was equally as large from the community forum, Ratchford said.
“A majority of people who showed up, it was their considered opinion the flag should be left like it is,” he said.
Ortega said the CRC’s executive committee respected that feedback, but that its recommendations were meant to provide,
“a solution that wouldn’t offend people, but would also honor the past.” She also said that more people probably would have
expressed opinions to have the flag removed if they had known about the community forum and website – or if they had
even known a Confederate flag was flying in a city-owned cemetery.
“It’s funny how this thing has blown up because not a lot of people even knew it was there,” Ortega said.
But the people who knew it was there, and want it to remain there, aren’t laughing.
“It’s a real slap in the face,” Palmer said. “They ask for the public’s opinion, we give it, and they just ignore it and do what
they want. There were other options they could have taken from what people suggested that were totally ignored.”
One of those options, culled from the community forum, included keeping the flag in place accompanied by a plaque that
would detail the flag’s historical significance and its unique relationship to Elmwood Cemetery, Palmer said. The flag marks
the spot of a monument for the Confederate soldiers who died in battle during the Civil War and are buried in Elmwood.
Other suggestions included flying the existing Confederate flag at half-mast or decorating each Confederate headstone with
a Confederate flag.
“Some how,” Palmer said, “none of those suggestions made it into the final recommendations.”
They should have, according to County Commissioner Jim Puckett. He said the Confederate flag at Elmwood should remain
flying.
“I can understand and respect the concerns some people have, but it’s not like this is a state capital,” said Puckett, who has
been a strong defender of Elmwood Cemetery and its historical aspects. “This is a cemetery and a Confederate memorial at
that and it’s an entirely different matter. I mean at what point do you take the leap from here and start chiseling off the
Confederate flags that are engraved on headstones?
“I can’t figure out the insensitivity in some people to the respect you give soldiers,” Puckett said. “It’s the same type
situation as American flags that fly over cemeteries in France and Germany and across the world. I find it appropriate
because of what it is, a memorial to the soldiers who died fighting for their country. If you can’t understand the historical
significance of that in this case, I’m not sure you’re qualified to be part of the debate.”
When the flag controversy first started brewing months ago, Puckett predicted it would come down to a case of all or
nothing that would likely result in removing the flag.
A final resolution, based on the CRC’s recommendations, could be leaning in that direction. City Manager Syfert has the
authority to take whatever action she thinks is appropriate based on the recommendations she receives. Syfert said she
couldn’t comment on any final action she might take until she is presented with the recommendations on Friday, but said
she would likely make a decision without brining the issue back to council first for more discussion.
“If things have been delegated to me I try not to put that back on the council,” Syfert said. “But if they (councilmembers)
want me to pursue an option outside of what I present to them, or even look at different options, I have no problem with
that.”
Councilmember Turner, who started the whole flag flap, originally said he would prefer to see the flag lowered – but that
compromise was rejected by the people who want to keep the flag like it is. Barring any last minute change that would put
that option back on the table, Turner said he would likely accept whatever decision and recommendation Syfert presents.
“I’m confident that the committee and city staff have done a thorough job researching this topic and feel comfortable
agreeing with the recommendations they make based on that research,” Turner said.
Ortega said she would like to see the flag removed and placed in a glass case on the cemetery grounds.
That suggestion fell flat with Puckett.
“I think it would be appropriate to keep it flying and have a glass case with some historical background on the flag,” he said.
“But to just put the flag in a glass case? That would just lead to more problems. I mean, good grief, how long do you think it
would last like that? They can’t even keep people from stealing one that’s up a flag pole.”
| These are the recommendations that the CRC made to Charlotte City Council. Sadly, the outraged from the public was not listen by City Manager or Mayor McCrory. |
| © By Historic Preservation of Elmwood/Pinewood Cemetery, Inc. All rights reserved. |
*Picture H.P.E.P.C. All rights reserved.