Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have long taken an interest in the preservation of Green Hill Cemetery of Elizabethton, TN. Some have did this while members of the Watauga Historial Asssociation and its ad hoc committee, Green Hill Cemetery Preservation Committee, as well as after leaving the organization. One article in the Elizabethton Star dated August 15, 2006 attests to this; http://archives.starhq.com/PDF/2006/August/081506.pdf.
It was after Memorial Day of 2011, actually the day after, Confederate flags were found pushed into the ground. The Wednesday, June 1 edition of the Elizabethton Star shows a Boy Scout setting a U.S. flag on a Confederate grave, the Confederate flag already pushed into the ground. A caption under the photo has mention of Dawn Peters of the Watauga Historical Association. In a complaint filed over the flags being pushed into the ground, Peters, in an E.P.D. Police report admitted to doing it. See:
http://archives.starhq.com/PDF/2011/June/060111.pdf.
S.C.V. members purchased flag stands, only to have W.H.A. push them into the ground. In order to stop this, the stands were cemented into the ground. Note that after doing this, W.H.A. set rods into the ground and taped U.S. flags to them--an ugly mess!The next set of 4 photos shows their neglect in mowing the Confederate graves. This is not caretaker-like behavior.In the spring of 2012, W.H.A. had a "geological survey" done on the Confederate graves and Tipton plots. Why only the Confederate graves?!! For approximately 6 months the survey tape and flags were left on the graves until it was removed by those fed up with the litter. Again, not a good attribute of a caretaker!Despite their malicious and outrageous behavior directed toward the graves of the Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery, they keep receiving grants from the Elizabethton/Carter County Community Foundation and East Tennessee Foundation while still proclaiming they are caretakers.
Bill Hicks
SCV & Tennessee Confederate Flaggers
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