Are Virginia Confederate monuments not protected by law?
The ruling that this law is not protecting the monuments must be overturned. Virginia § 15.2-1812 was law since 1904, now all of a sudden it is wrong?
What is wrong is the mentality of the politicians that lost the 2016 election?
House Bill 587 would have upheld § 15.2-1812 which was originally passed in 1904, updated many times since then, that prevented local governments from disturbing or interfering with war-related monuments.
It was later ruled by Danville Circuit Court Judge James Reynolds that Section 15.2-1812 of the Virginia Code did not apply, because the flag (Confederate Battle Flag) was not a memorial to soldiers, but rather a historical marker.
He also ruled that portion of the Virginia Code, which was amended in 1998 to add monuments in cities to the list of those protected, did not apply to any structures built prior to that year (1998).
The reason, Reynolds said, was because there was no part of the law that stated it was meant to be retroactive.
Judge Reynolds did say in his opinion it is not clear to him whether the legislature intended for monuments erected prior to 1998 to be protected, meaning memorials and monuments from ALL wars back to early Indian wars are unprotected. His position was backed up by a legal opinion written by Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring.
A bill introduced last year (2016) by Del. Charles D. Poindexter, R-Franklin County, would clarify that monuments built before 1998 were also protected under the law. This passed the House and Senate but was vetoed by the Governor of Virginia. There were not enough votes to override the veto.
We hope that Mr. Poindexter tries again in the 2018 session to ratify the law to protect our Confederate war monuments. For now the fate of our monuments are in the hands of local politicians. Do you have confidence in each of them? No!
Poindexter said the governor’s veto leaves all of Virginia’s war memorials at risk. The legislation on war symbols carries particular importance for Richmond, which served as the Confederate capital and is dotted with monuments to Rebel figures such as Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart and Stonewall Jackson.
Our J.E.B. Stuart Monument in Patrick is protected for now by the Patrick County Board of Supervisors’ vote of 4-1 to keep it as is (Remember, this could change if the makeup of the board changes). That is why we need the law to protect all our war veterans’ monuments.
Roger T Hayden
Dan River District
Patrick County Board of Supervisors
