Fredericksburg SCV Case Gets April 19 Court Date
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. – The lawsuit to prevent a monument to 51 Confederate soldiers from being moved will go to trial on April 19 in Fredericksburg Circuit Court. Judge Gordon F. Willis, who has presided over the three hearings so far in the case, will not be available due to scheduling issues. A substitute judge will sit for the bench trial, estimated to take one day. The use of a traffic triangle in front of the former Maury School for war monuments is at the center of the lawsuit. The Fredericksburg Area Veterans’ Council (FAVC) sponsored the large stone Fredericksburg Area War Memorial that was dedicated in 2008 to the area war dead from America’s conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries, and incorporated earlier monuments there to World War I and II. In April 2009, Matthew Fontaine Maury Camp 1722, Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), erected a small stone monument on a corner of the traffic island memorializing 51 Confederate soldiers buried in an unmarked cemetery in front of Maury School (see CWN June 2009 issue). The SCV camp obtained a city building permit and the city manager waived the building permit fees for the monument. At the request of the FAVC, the city council on Sept. 8, 2009, passed an ordinance designating the entire island as being exclusively for the Fredericksburg Area War Memorial and ordering relocation of the Confederate monument to an unspecified location. This prompted the SCV to file a lawsuit against the City of Fredericksburg on Nov. 19, 2009. City Attorney Kathleen Dooley in an email said private attorney Jennifer Parrish, who was hired by the City of Fredericksburg to serve as co-counsel on the case, is providing her legal services pro bono effective Sept.10. Parrish said, “Although the City did not bring the lawsuit, and was only forced to respond to the lawsuit that was brought against it, it wishes to defend the rights of City Council to decide when any person or entity may permanently construct structures on public city property.” She said the city “felt the need to defend its legal rights without cost to the taxpayers, and I and my law firm are willing to assist in that goal.” As reported in the September issue, Parrish billed the city $14,253.50 for the period March through July 2010. Dooley quoted Parrish billing the city $3,074 for August and $1,073 for the first nine days of September, bringing the city’s bill for Parrish’s services to $18,400.50. A Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star editorial on Aug. 15 questioned whether the legal fee was money well spent and urged the city to let the Confederate monument remain where it is. CWN reporter Scott C. Boyd is a member of SCV Camp 1722 and assisted with the Confederate Monument project.
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