Posted on 06/05/2002 4:25:09 PM PDT by shuckmaster
KNOXVILLE – The annual Confederate Memorial Day Service, which is held at the Confederate Cemetery off of Dandridge Avenue was interrupted this past weekend by a federal attorney, who demanded that the ceremony be stopped and summoned Knoxville police to break up the event.
United States Department of Interior attorney John Austin, who is with the Knoxville solicitor’s field office, was reportedly driving by the ceremony when he stopped and demanded that it be ended.
The Memorial Day ceremony, which featured past Tennessee commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and Covington, TN mayor Russell Bailey as guest speaker as well as federal representatives from the Tennessee congressional delegation, is an event sponsored by the Knoxville Chapters of the Sons of Confederate Veterans as part of the state’s and Knoxville’s annual observance recognizing Tennessee Confederate soldiers who died in the War Between the States.
Knoxville police summoned to the Confederate Cemetery informed Austin the assembly is legal, they were not going to stop the Memorial Day Service and that he would have to leave the site immediately.
While some of those in attendance at the ceremony say they were intimidated by Austin using his position as a federal attorney to try and stop the memorial service, others were furious that he disrupted the event. Tennessee Conservative Union chairman Lloyd Daugherty, who attended the ceremony and has often spoken at the Confederate Memorial Day Service, left the grave site and confronted Austin and the police to see what the problem was.
"It was unbelievable that he (Austin) would try to use his position as a U.S. attorney to summon police and stop a ceremony where descendants were paying tribute to their ancestors," said Lloyd Daugherty. "This is clearly a case where a federal employee used his position to intimidate taxpaying citizens and should not be tolerated. This event is a lawful assembly held here every year and has never encountered any problems whatsoever from the people in the neighborhood where the cemetery is located. It’s a memorial day service where people who have Confederate descendants come here to pay tribute to their ancestors, pray over their graves and hold a small religious service. I commend the Knoxville police officers, who handled the matter very professionally and remained until the ceremony was concluded to make sure there were no other problems." Following the incident, those in attendance at the ceremony contacted the office of U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr. as well as the U.S. Department of Interior’s Field Office in Knoxville informing them how upset they were over the federal attorney’s disruption of the service.
According to reports, the board of the Mabry-Hazen House is expected to discuss the incident after Austin’s wife allegedly began a telephone campaign to Knoxville officials and members of the board reporting that the group gathered at the Confederate Cemetery were using racial slurs, racing trucks up the small city street where the cemetery is located, throwing bottles and playing the song "Dixie" on loudspeakers. Accusations called incredulous by members of the local S.C.V. "Where that came from is beyond belief and an outright lie," said a Knoxville S.C.V. member Earl Smith. "If that was the case, I and everyone else there would have called the police ourselves. Confederate Memorial Day is a highly dignified and reverend occasion for us that honors our ancestors who fought and died during the War Between the States. This is something people with Confederate ancestors do every June across the South, especially in Tennessee and is duly recognized as state day of remembrance."
Telephone calls and e-mails requesting comment from the U.S. Department of Interior Knoxville’s Field Solicitor J.T. Begley, who is Austin’s immediate supervisor, had not been answered at time of publication.
The Mabry-Hazen Historical site is the caretaker of the Confederate Cemetery and the Mabry House, which was the home of Joseph Mabry – one of the city’s early leaders and a Confederate supporter that supplied Confederate soldiers with uniforms in the early days of the war. The local S.C.V. has done numerous "Living History" exhibits on the Civil War era in Knoxville featuring both Confederate and Union encampments for school groups and visitors to the site.
Dismissal is in order.
If true. It seems a little boneheaded even for the feds!
He is "driving by" and decides to disrupt a memorial service? Sounds like a leftover Clintonista who needs to be deep sixed.
KNOXVILLE – The annual Confederate Memorial Day Service, which is held at the Confederate Cemetery off of Dandridge Avenue was interrupted this past weekend by a federal attorney,
A federal employee; and a
who demanded that the ceremony be stopped and summoned Knoxville police to break up the event.
United States Department of Interior attorney John Austin, who is with the Knoxville solicitor’s field office, was reportedly driving by the ceremony when he stopped and demanded that it be ended.
This fed employee needs to find himself, if not out a job, at least Freeped.
Why do you ask that question?
Stupidity crosses ethnic and racial lines.
And if he does not lose his job, then his actions are tantamount to official government policy, because if he is not punished then he did nothing wrong and many federal officers will get in the game next year.
Confederate memorial services were held last Sunday at the Confederate Monument, Jackson Circle, Arlington Cemetery. The President sent a wreath as did several senators.
Time for the US Attorney's Office to check into this guy's emotional stability and mental capacity to carry out the duties of the office he represents.
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