NEWNAN, GA — A white-supremacist rally by the National Socialist Movement is scheduled for a park in this growing town 30 miles south of the Atlanta airport and residents are unhappy about it and counter-protests.
Mayor Keith Brady says it’s a First Amendment issue; “We don’t condone this at all, and we’d rather them not be here, but the city felt that there was no choice.”
A sampling of locals by the New Times-Herald newspaper showed locals want no part of it:
“Why don’t they exercise their free speech wherever they’re from … no one wants them or their controversy?” asked Donna Boles.
“It sickens me that they have chosen our beautiful community to express their hateful views,” said Wendy Hayes.
With memory of the tragic events in Charlottesville, Va., that left three dead and dozens injured, Newnan officials are making plans. Mark Cooper, deputy chief of police: “We are working with other local, state and federal agencies in an effort to ensure the safety of ALL those involved. Our strategies are planned to reduce the chance of physical altercations and minimize the risk of personal injury or property damage.
“Our goal is to protect the First Amendment Rights of all citizens and visitors to The City of Newnan.”
Newnan could revoke the permit which would open the door to a lawsuit where a settlement or victory could put cash in the NSM’s pocket.
First responders are using an area across the street from the park as a command center. Some streets are being closed and city officials are asking residents to stay away or go to alternative places across county to protest the gathering. “A statement is just as strong by ignoring it or going someplace else,” Mayor Brady said. Nearby businesses are encouraged to close early. People who want to attend the rally are advised by Police Chief Douglas L. “Buster” Meadows “… the less you say to anyone there, the better off you’ll be.”
In Georgia, law-abiding citizens can carry fire arms in public places. What could possibly go wrong?
Still, some boast they must defend their town’s honor, one person suggesting on an Internet community bulletin board they carry signs on sticks so the sticks could be used as defense.
The NSM paid a $50 rental fee to the town for use of Greenville Street Park on April 21 between 3 and 5 pm. Its web site describes the group as a political party for “every patriotic white American,” and that it cooperates and works “with many like-minded white nationalist groups and others that are either National Socialist or at least racially aware of our European heritage.”
In Valdosta, Ga., about 200 miles to the east, members of Antifa, which bills itself as an anti-fascist group, said they would counter-protest and have put out the word to other Antifa chapters.
“The reason why we’re not choosing to ignore them any more is because for the past couple of years, we had,” the Antifa member who asked to be identified only as PJ said. “We don’t want them to feel like they can be comfortable and be safe. “We’re not there for violence. We’re there to try to expose Nazis.” An events page created for its counter-protest, the Times-Herald reported, states, “We don’t need violent confrontation but we WILL defend ourselves.”
The Valdosta group later reportedly decided not to come but locals fear other Antifa chapters or similar groups will, and they’re not welcome, either. “Antifa thrives on this and begs for violence, and tries to make it out like they are doing good,” Courtney Kolar-Pruitt told the newspaper.
“It’s the other groups that always follow them to these events that will bring destruction to property,” noted resident Jay Adcock.
Valerie Stanaland expressed disapproval of the NSM message but stands by the First Amendment. “They have the Constitutional right to assemble and the Constitutional right to free speech. I don’t agree with these people and I have zero intention of glorifying their cause.” She noted residents have the ability to deny them an audience.
Why Newnan?
The National Socialist Movement is holding its annual National Meeting and Dinner in Temple, Ga., about 35 miles away, that weekend, a member of Valdosta Antifa told the local press, adding a new chapter of Aryan Nation had formed in Villa Rica, Ga., about 40 miles from here.
Coweta County, land that was ceded by the Creeks in the 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs, is not Sheriff Andy’s Mayberry although there is a commission working on ways to preserve its rural nature. County seat Newnan has easy access to Interstate 85 making it a drivable trek into Atlanta for work and play. Main industry in the area is movies — “The Walking Dead” series is filmed in Senoia, 10 miles to the east. Health care is second. Newnan’s population is about 33,000. From 2,000 to 2010 the population grew by 43 percent. It is about 58 percent white and 31 percent black.
Confederate history
During the Civil War it had seven field hospitals. The Confederates saved Newnan from Sherman’s march so it has 22 antebellum structures and is known as the City of Homes.
NSM Commander Jeff Schoep said Newnan wasn’t chosen for any specific reason but indicated a 1956 monument to William Thomas Overby played a role. Overby was a Confederate soldier who was hanged when he refused to give up his comrades’ location. Referred to as the Nathan Hale of the Confederacy, his body was buried in 1864 in Virginia but returned here in 1997 and he received a military funeral. The farmland where he grew up is now a subdivision named for him.
His monument is easily overlooked, about the same size as another nearby to the Creek Indian chief, William McIntosh. On the opposite side of the old Courthouse, facing East, is a monument to Confederate dead that is much bigger and taller. A soldier in military cloak with fixed bayonet, it is 7-foot-4; when the base is included 22 feet high and 32,000 pounds. Some people think that’s Overby and others claim the soldier in Italian marble is a relative but the truth is nobody around today knows who the model was.
Its original location was in the middle of an intersection but that became a traffic hazard in the 1920s as car ownership grew. It was moved to its current location on logs. A town fixture for 133 years, there seems little interest in moving it again. It is a part of local history, but people here aren’t still fighting a war.
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