East TN legislator joins in honoring Confederate flag
A state legislator spoke Saturday at a gathering in front of the Sullivan County courthouse to honor the history and heritage of the Confederate flag, reports the Bristol Herald Courier. The event was organized by the Sons of Confederate Veterans as part of the organization’s national Confederate Flag Day and comes with controversy afoot elsewhere over Confederate recognition.
“You can’t help but have a sense of pride in home and preservation of our history and our story because that’s who we are,” said state Rep. Timothy Hill, R-Blountville, speaking about Blountville’s Civil War history. “When you let go of that, when you start allowing monuments to be defaced and erased, you forget your roots.”
Comptroller finds no major legal problems in Memphis Confederate statues maneuver
Press release from Office of the Comptroller
The Comptroller’s Office has completed a review of the City of Memphis’ December 20, 2017 sale of Health Sciences Park and the easement to Memphis Park to Memphis Greenspace, Inc.
Memphis Confederate statue move brings retaliation legislation
At least four bills have been filed by Republican state legislators in response to removal of Confederate statues from former Memphis city parks, including a measure that would allow the state to seize designated historic monuments from private owners, reports the Commercial Appeal.
The bill, dubbed the Tennessee Historic Properties Act and sponsored by Rep. Matthew Hill of Jonesboro and Sen. Frank Niceley of Strawberry Plains (HB2146), would greatly expand the state’s eminent domain powers, allowing the state to seize and take part ownership of any privately owned monuments once under a 2013 state historic preservation law.
Judge issues temporary injunction in Confederate statues lawsuit
An injunction issued by a judge Monday was “a partial, if unsurprising, win for the Sons of Confederate Veterans” in a lawsuit filed against Memphis Greenspace Inc., the nonprofit that recently removed Confederate statues from two former city parks, reports the Commercial Appeal.
Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle barred the nonprofit from selling, gifting or moving the statues of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, President Jefferson Davis, and Capt. J. Harvey Mathes pending a “contested case hearing” before the Tennessee Historical Commission sometime within the next 60 days.
Legal actions launched against removal of Confederate statutes in Memphis
The Sons of Confederate Veterans and descendants of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest have filed two legal actions against the City of Memphis over removal of Confederate statutes from two former city parks last month, reports the Commercial Appeal.
Memphis Confederate statute removal peacefully protested
Lots of law enforcement officers were on hand for an organized protest against a Memphis City Council move that led to removing statutes of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, and Confederate cavalry General Nathan Bedford Forrest, reports the Commercial Appeal. But they didn’t have much to do except watch the peaceful proceedings.
Confederate statute removal brings Democratic cheers, Republican jeers
House Republican leaders Thursday criticized the sale of two Memphis city parks to clear the way for removal of Confederate statues, suggesting there may be legislative efforts against the move. House Democrats, on the other hand, praised the Memphis maneuver.
Memphis sells city parks, buyer removes Confederate statues
A private group headed by a county commissioner and fueled by anonymous donations bought two parks from the city of Memphis at little cost this week in a maneuver that cleared the way for swift removal of two Confederate statutes that have sparked conflict for years, reports the Associated Press.
Shelby County Commissioner and attorney Van Turner told a news conference Thursday that his group, Memphis Greenspace Inc., is ready for any lawsuits that arise from its deal with the city, which took months of planning to sidestep a Tennessee law that makes it tough to take down Confederate monuments on public grounds.
Bill would move N.B. Forrest bust to state museum
Rep. Brenda Gilmore, former chair of the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators, has filed a bill that would move a bust of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest from the state capitol lobby to the new Tennessee State Museum.
Under current state law, the Capitol Commission must approve any such move – and the panel voted 7-5 in September to leave the Forrest bust in place. HB1466 specifically makes the Forrest bust an exception to that general rule and further directs that it be relocated to the new museum, now under construction.
There’s no listed Senate sponsor yet for the bill, pre-filed for consideration in the legislative session that begins next month.
Note: Previous post on the commission vote is HERE; a post with a bit of bust history HERE.
Marsha Blackburn, a ‘neo-Confederate secessionist’ and a 2004 prayer in the U.S. House
U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn once brought an avowed neo-Confederate secessionist she’d known for decades to deliver the opening prayer for the House of Representatives, according to Talking Points Memo.
Blackburn, who is currently running for the Senate, invited the Rev. David O. Jones, a Tennessee pastor and Christian home-school program head who says he’s known her since the late 1970s, to give the opening prayer for the House in 2004.
