Sons of Confederate Veterans lament setback in Ga. monument battle
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. - The Sons of Confederate Veterans has some concerns about how things are being done at Stone Mountain Park.
They recently filed a lawsuit against the Stone Mountain Memorial Association.
“We filed a lawsuit last month alleging that they have violated the state law by removing some flags from the bottom of the trailhead and putting them in a less conspicuous place,” said Martin O’Toole, attorney and the spokesperson for the Georgia Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans.
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Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr sided with the Stone Mountain Memorial Association, filing a motion to dismiss the lawsuit altogether.
“We’re disappointed that Attorney General Carr is not standing by what he said in 2020 and instead just taking a hard line and defending the removal of the monument flags to a less prominent location,” said O’Toole.
The motion states that the group’s complaint was a bit too late, and lacks standing.
“By removing them from a prominent place, and basically shuffling them off and hiding them, they are undermining the purpose of the memorial park,” said O’Toole of the Confederate flags.
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“I’m not sure that that’s a good argument. They seem pretty prominently displayed to me,” said Marcus Patton, who is a historian with the Stone Mountain Action Coalition.
“I would be happy, personally, if there was no Confederate iconography at Stone Mountain,” said Patton. “The mountain attracts visitors from around the world, most of whom couldn’t care less about the Confederacy, but are coming to this unique geological feature.”
O’Toole said his organization tried to talk things out before filing a lawsuit. Although this new motion to dismiss is another roadblock, they plan to continue their fight in court.
“We’ll probably lose at the DeKalb County level and then win at the Supreme Court level,” said O’Toole.
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