Press Release
April 18, 2005
No charges to be filed against Charlotte City Manager, Pam Syfert, in Confederate flagpole case.
Background: On March 15, 2005, Charlotte Mecklenburg Police report #20050315-1037-01 was filed on behalf of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). The report alleged that city manager Pam Syfert had committed a felony in causing the removal and destruction of the UDC’s Elmwood Cemetery Confederate flagpole.
The Stonewall Jackson Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Robert E. Lee Confederate Heritage Association are disappointed that Mecklenburg County District Attorney, Peter Gilchrist, will not prosecute those responsible for the removal of the flagpole. On behalf of the two groups, spokesman Walter Hilderman stated, "While we respectfully disagree with the D.A.’s decision, we are satisfied that our complaint of criminal misconduct by the city manager was adequately reviewed. The decision was rendered based on the district attorney’s responsibility to enforce the law, as he interprets it, and his obligation to efficiently manage the resources of his office."
The district attorney’s professionalism stands in stark contrast to the abdication of responsibility by the Charlotte City Council and the unwarranted action of the city manager. Until its removal, the Confederate flag had flown in Elmwood Cemetery for several decades without incident, without controversy, and without expense to the city of Charlotte. Rather than allow the Confederate flag to continue flying over the graves of veterans who suffered and died in its service, the city manager chose to appease as yet un-named persons who demanded the flag’s removal.
The city manager ignored overwhelming public opinion, refused all offers of compromise, and chose, instead, to waste the city’s resources in order to promote a sanitized, pop-culture version of Charlotte Mecklenburg heritage. In so doing, a significant portion of the community has been offended and a controversy has been created where none existed before. Confederate flag activists, seizing on the city manager’s immoderate decision, are calling for demonstrations and civil disobedience in Charlotte.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Robert E. Lee Confederate Heritage Association, and local American Civil War historian-reenactors will continue to pursue their criminal complaint through legal channels. Additionally, we will continue to advocate a reasonable resolution to this conflict. That resolution should provide for the restoration of the Confederate flag over the graves of its veterans, and be mindful of the sensitivities of the Charlotte Mecklenburg community as a whole.
The citizens of Charlotte Mecklenburg would be better served by a city government that is responsive to calls for moderation and compromise.