Heritage or Hate?
Debate Lingers On

"Heritage not hate" is the oft-quoted mantra of Georgians who wished to maintain the prominent display of the Confederate battle emblem on the state flag. But John Walker Davis, a historian and graduate student at the University of Georgia, has found no evidence that the 1956 incorporation of the St. Andrews Cross into the Georgia flag derived from any desire to pay tribute to Confederate soldiers.

"A number of [Georgia] politicians in the early ’90s said that [the 1956 flag change] was totally an effort to offer a memorial to Confederate soldiers, but if you go back and read the documents, that's just not the case," says Davis, who became interested in the controversy in the late 1980s. Born and reared in the deep South, he began to question his own views about race and class after watching civil rights marches in Forsyth County in 1987.

"I started reading a lot, then went back to college in 1993. I got into this heated argument with this really big man when I suggested the [Confederate battle emblem] was put on the state flag because of desegregation. He got so mad, I thought he was going to beat me up," Davis remembers.

His classmate's ire intrigued him, and he eventually became so immersed in the subject that his work led to a meticulously researched account of the motivations behind the 1956 flag change.

In researching a 1998 article he wrote for Georgia Historical Quarterly, Davis found no mention among Georgia legislators of memorializing Confederate dead, but he did find records of prominent Confederate memorial groups asking the legislature not to change the flag for fear of "misuse" of Confederate symbolism. Then-Governor Marvin Griffin ignored correspondence from chapter leaders of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, saying their "request could not be granted because he supported the change."

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"He never sent it to me," Davis says. "He has not been forthcoming with any evidence that backs up his position. I, on the other hand, document my position."
The 1956 flag change blew in on the heels of the landmark 1954 US Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, in which the Court held that racially segregated schools were unconstitutional. While some interest in the Confederate battle emblem had begun to emerge in the late 1940s, prior to Brown, Confederate battle flags went mostly unnoticed. Confederate museum workers even had to plead for help in restoring the decaying silk banners.

Davis acknowledges that Georgia Governor Roy Barnes' focus on possible economic ramifications of a potential boycott, rather than the current flag's racist connotations, was both effective and politically astute.

He is also gratified that Denmark Groover, Governor Griffin's Floor leader, has admitted that the '56 change was an act of defiance, and has supported the current change.
"I presented the matter to the House and probably used some rhetoric indicating that the new flag was to symbolize our defiance of the action of the federal judiciary on matters involving race," the retired legislator said in a January 24 speech to the state General Assembly. Groover also said that many Georgians at the time had "no voice in the matter."
Davis, however, is not entirely pleased with the outcome of the flag issue.

"I wish they would do away with the whole banner at the bottom," he says. "It just seems like they're trying to pacify everyone." (Yana E. Pogue)

Phytoremediation
To Cure Dump's Ills?

Clean-up of the University of Georgia's 30-year-old toxic dump site near the State Botanical Garden of Georgia is underway with the help of native trees as part of its restoration.
Phytoremediation - the natural ability of some plants to break down chemical poisons into salts and carbon dioxide - is being used on trial in the clean-up process, along with a water filtration system and a protective clay cap.

The landfill was a dumping ground for the University's toxic waste in the 1960s and 70s. It was shut down after the federal government updated standards for hazardous waste disposal in the late 70s.

When monitoring revealed contaminants in nearby ground water - water which ends up in the Middle Oconee River - the state Environmental Protection Division (EPD) told the University to clean it up. The agency wanted UGA to excavate the dump, but two decades of arguing with the school ended recently when Governor Roy Barnes ordered the EPD to accept the University's much cheaper plan to cap the site.

Laura Carreira, a former US Environmental Protection Agency scientist, persuaded University officials to use phytoremediation as part of the clean-up.

"It's a Botanical Garden. It made sense to use trees," she says.

Carreira works with Athens-based Applied Phytogenetics, the company hired by Atlanta firm Brown and Caldwell to concentrate solely on the phytoremediation process. Brown and Caldwell is overseeing the clean-up and is responsible for designing the clay cap and installing the water treatment system.

Carreira and other scientists began working on the site in July of last year. They tested the antibodies in 67 species of trees in the surrounding area to see if they were able to withstand and break down certain chemicals. Of the 67, 15 species were found to be "active" phytoremediating plants. The scientists presented their findings to Ken Scott, director of Safety Services at UGA, who was convinced to let them try phytoremediation on the dump.

"If anything, it's a cheap experiment," Carreira says.

The phytoremediation process will cost about $40,000. Costs of UGA's protracted clean-up are estimated to total between $3 and $4 million. The EPD's proposed excavation would have cost $20 to $30 million, according to Brown and Caldwell.

The phytoremediation site, adjacent to the Botanical Garden·s White Trail, is located on the downhill slope of the actual landfill, where the contaminated water flows. The "non-active" trees have been removed for more active trees to be planted and more sunlight to reach the site, Carreira says.

Of all of the trees being used for the process, only two species, the cypress and the red bay, were not native to the Botanical Garden. Carreira says that Applied Phytogenetics got permission from the Botanical Garden before installing the trees.

"It's going to be gorgeous," she says.

Carreira estimates results could be evident as early as mid-summer, depending on how quickly the plants respond. She has confidence that this field test will make a difference in the quality of the ground water.

"We believe in this. It's a really cool system, and it's going to work."

A viewing space "for people to come and see for themselves what is going on and [to] get background information on the site" should be fully installed in the spring, Carreira says. She stresses the importance of people knowing more about the site to allay fears of what might be getting into the water.

"It's important for people to understand that this site is not dangerous," she says. "Nobody should be afraid." (Katy Stillerman)

Who Speaks For
Dogs And Cats?

The Macon-based Humane Association of Georgia (HAGA) is trying again this year to get a bill through the state legislature that could reduce dog and cat deaths through a specially designed license plate.

Funds generated from the sale of the plate would be used for statewide spay-neuter and public education efforts, much like the popular "Give Wildlife a Chance" tags contribute to wildlife programs. The measure would allow licensed and accredited veterinarians to perform sterilization procedures in return for a set dollar amount through a contract with the State Department of Agriculture.

The 2000 version of the HAGA bill, sponsored by Rep. Lynmore James (D-Montezuma), died when House Speaker Tom Murphy (D-Bremen) prevented it from coming to a vote.
According to HAGA, an estimated $49 million a year is collected in sales tax for dog and cat food sold in Georgia, while less than $500,000 is spent for companion animal protection. Half of Georgia's counties have no animal control whatsoever, and many shelters are severely underfunded.

HAGA points to the cost of euthanizing animals, which it says far exceeds what the state would spend on sterilization. The group says a state-funded spay-neuter program would also cut down on auto-vehicle collisions and the spread of diseases such as rabies, and would diminish losses inflicted by feral animals on property, livestock, poultry, wildlife and the environment.

Then there's the body count. In 1998, approximately 103,000 animals were put to death in metro Atlanta alone, HAGA says. From July 1999 through June 2000, the Athens Area Humane Society took in 1,065 cats and other small domestic animals. Six hundred forty-nine of those (61 percent) were put to death. During that same period, Athens-Clarke County Animal Control impounded 2,321 animals - 1,252 (54 percent) were killed. Almost all of them were dogs.

"The dogs that people are allowing to run loose that are not neutered [or] not spayed are most of the problem in terms of causing unwanted litters," says ACC Animal Control Superintendent Patrick Rives. "That's basically where we get a lot of the dogs that come through here."

"Obviously, if there were no unintended litters or unwanted pets, then we wouldn't have to be euthanizing as many animals as we have to."


State law requires that any animal adopted from a licensed shelter be spayed or neutered. Athens-Clarke Animal Control works with local veterinarians, who provide discounts for sterilization of adopted animals. Many vets offer discounts to sterilize reclaimed animals as well.

Rives says his department will waive a portion, if not all, of its reclaim fee to help defray spay-neuter costs, and will even transport animals to the veterinarian of the owner's choice.
State-funded sterilization would help in counties where such services are not available, and would promote awareness of the need to spay and neuter companion animals around Georgia and beyond. Similar programs have already been adopted in 10 other states, including Texas, Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina and Tennessee.

As of this writing, no sponsor has been named for the HAGA bill. Information on last year's spay-neuter tag proposal is on-line at humassocga.org.