The Southern Legal Resource Center

eU P D A T E

Monday, December 22, 2008

P ublished by the Southern Legal Resource Center

P.O. Box 1235, Black Mountain, NC 28711/(828) 669-5189/slrc@slrc-csa.org

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BREAKING NEWS: FEDERAL COURT SETS ORAL ARGUMENTS IN BURLESON CASE

 

NEW ORLEANS – The Fifth U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals has set February 4, 2009, as the day it will hear oral arguments from both sides in the case of the Burleson, Texas, school board's ban on Confederate Symbols.

 

The case centers on a suit filed by the SLRC in 2006 on behalf of two female Burleson High School students who were suspended for bringing to school Confederate flag purses which they had received as Christmas presents. The sister of one of the plaintiffs subsequently joined the suit.

 

A lower court issued a summary judgment in favor of the defendants in April of this year. The SLRC immediately appealed on grounds that, among other factors, the original court refused the SLRC's request to admit crucial documentary evidence, including an e-mail from the then principal of the school to faculty and staff, instructing them to claim that Confederate symbols had previously caused disruption on campus.

“This is a perfect case to take to the Fifth Circuit,” SLRC Chief Trial Counsel Kirk Lyons told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram when the appeal was filed. “They've never done a Confederate flag case in this circuit.”

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SLRC MOVES TO BLOCK CHANGE OF COURT IN McCLAREN CASE

 

MEMPHIS , TN – Defense attorneys in the case of McClaren vs. Compass Intervention Center have had the case removed from it a local court to a U.S. Court, and the SLRC and its local counsel have countered with a motion to return the case to its original jurisdiction.

 

Lawyers for Compass filed the removal from Shelby County Circuit Court to U. S. Court for the Western District of Tennessee without warning on November 24. The SLRC, with the assistance of local counsel T. Tarry Beasley, is now filing a motion for remand – that is, a motion to send the suit back to Shelby County , where the suit was filed in early October.

 

“We have found the smoking gun,” said SLRC Chief Trial Counsel Kirk Lyons. “We trust that if the court takes proper notice of the law, this case will be returned to the proper venue.”

 

Plaintiff in the case is Paul McClaren, who resides in Olive Branch, MS, but who worked as a counselor for Compass in Memphis for a total of 10 years. He was terminated in October, 2007, after a running dialogue with Center officials over a decorative Confederate battle flag he displayed on the front of his vehicle and a state-issued Sons of Confederate Veterans Mississippi license tag on its rear.

 

McClaren says he had the tags on his vehicle for years without incident, but claims that the clinic's then recently-hired CEO demanded that McClaren either stop using the company parking lot as long as the tags were in place or park far enough away and in such a manner as to conceal them. McClaren contends that he made every reasonable effort to comply with the clinic's request, but that he was discharged anyway, without notice and without severance benefits.

 

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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE SLRC!

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If you have a stake in Southern heritage and culture, and are looking for a meaningful way to honor and protect them, please give generously to the Southern Legal Resource Center. With your help we can continue our aggressive efforts to secure the rights of all Southerners to express pride in their regional identity without fear of ridicule or reprisal, as should be the case for all Americans.

 

 

The Southern Legal Resource Center, Inc.   Roger W. McCredie …………………………………….............. Executive Director Kirk D. Lyons………………………………Staff Attorney and Chief Trial Counsel Allison J. Schaum….…………………………………………………….Case Manager Betty D. Tate.…………………………………………………………..Office Manager   BOARD OF DIRECTORS Dewey Barber.………………………………………………………….Odum, Georgia Gene Hough, Attorney.………………………………… Oklahoma City , Oklahoma Van R. Irion, Attorney...........………………………………… Knoxville, Tennessee Judge Robert N. Jones, Jr….…………………………………………… Austin , Texas Neill H. Payne, DC……………………………… .Black Mountain , North Carolina Lourie A. Salley, III, Attorney (Chairman) ………….. Lexington , South Carolina Rick D. Wilkerson …..…….………………………Black Mountain, North Carolina Ann Rives Zappa ………………………………………. Chapel Hill , North Carolina

 

 

The Southern Legal Resource Center is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization, and contributions to it are fully tax deductible. Credit card and PayPal donations may be made at our website by clicking on “How You Can Help.” Checks payable to the Southern Legal Resource Center should be mailed to P.O. Box 1235 , Black Mountain , NC 28711 . “Thumbs Up for Dixie ” stickers are available for SLRC and local heritage fundraising projects. Contact the SLRC for details at (828) 669-5189 or mim@slrc-csa.org. If you wish to receive our weekly e-mail update, contact us at slrc@slrc-csa.org.