ST. AUGUSTINE MONUMENT LAWSUIT ADVANCES
St. Augustine, FL - The Federal Lawsuit against the City of St. Augustine over the removal of their historic Plaza de la Constitution Confederate Memorial Monument advanced today as an amended complaint was filed today by the attorney in the case, David McCallister.
The amended lawsuit added a plaintiff, James Parham, and added new causes of action.
The case had been put on hold by the Court pending the results of two other Florida monument lawsuits and based on recent actions can now proceed.
"The case against the City of St. Augustine is one of the most egregious cases we have seen" said attorney McCallister.
The 1870's era Monument, made by hand on-site from native coquina for the Ladies Memorial Association, listed the names of 46 St. Augustine area men who died in defense of the City and many whose final resting places are unknown.
The monument was removed from the National Register Historic District in 2020 after an out-of-town agitator threatened to 'burn the town down' if the monument was not taken down, and the City Council promptly voted 3 to 2 to move it.
''If you can't have a historic monument in a National Register Historic District in the nation's oldest city, there's something very wrong in America" McCallister added.
The amended complaint charges the city with not meeting Federal review requirements for Historic Resources benefiting from Federal funding.
The City is expected to move for dismissal of the case, and the assigned judge Brian Davis, an Obama appointee will make the decision.
"If the case is dismissed appealing to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta for justice" McCallister concluded.
SAVE SOUTHERN HERITAGE Inc. is a not for profit public welfare corporation that educates & advocates on behalf of Southern Heritage & History. It was started in 2015 in response to the knee-jerk Anti-Southern institutionalized bullying and “Erase-ism” levied against the people of South Carolina by Governor Nikki Haley, after she broke all previous agreements about how South Carolina’s historical veterans and their symbols should be treated and respected. The Florida branch was activated in mid-January 2016, in response to three initiatives in the Florida Legislature that are part of a hate campaign led by Anti-American extremists, who refuse to respect the various cultures that make up the fabric of Florida’s society. Since that time, it has grown in membership and has been active in Heritage battles throughout Florida including the “We'll Remember in November Campaign” that resulted in #heritagehater candidates to loose elections in Florida. More info: www.sshfl.org.
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