Battle line drawn: Housing project resident fights to keep Civil War display on front lawn
A man says he’s standing his ground — and defending his freedom of speech — in a dispute over the Civil War display he set up on the front lawn of his government housing apartment in LaFayette.
Housing Authority Director Ruth Bass has ordered Kevin Smith to take down part of the display. She left a notice on his door Thursday, June 2: “I have had complaints about the mannequins and Confederate flag. Sorry but they have to go.”
Smith, a self-described Civil War buff, says the government is trying to stifle his right to free speech.
“They have no right to make a rule that negates the First Amendment, because it is covered by the Constitution,” Smith said.
On Wednesday, June 8, a secretary at the city’s Housing Authority office said Bass is out of town and could not comment on the matter, which has been turned over to an attorney.
Smith said the display, assembled over the past three years, depicts the death of Maj. R.H. Redwood during the Battle of LaFayette and is designed to educate people about the human cost of war.
“The (notice) specifically only mentions, not the other (U.S. and Gadsden) flags, but the Confederacy flag,” he said.
Smith claims Bass told him he could keep the display — if no one complains.
“I told her at the time, they don’t have a right to complain, because I’m not hurting anyone,” Smith said.
“I have lived here 20 years and I have given my best to help everybody and be a good neighbor,” he said. “And like I said, this is just recently that the trouble started.”
Smith said he is ashamed that the Confederate flag has been used as a racist symbol and wants people to know that, to him it doesn’t represent racism.
“I want them to know what this war cost,” he said.
Smith said he is willing to relocate the display to a public park in the city.
Smith signed a lease agreement when he moved into the housing projects. Here are excerpts from a HUD.gov model lease agreement that may be relevant in this case:
“Number 12: No alteration, addition, or improvements shall be made in or to the premises without the prior consent of the Landlord in writing. The Landlord agrees to provide reasonable accommodation to an otherwise eligible tenant’s disability, including making changes to rules, policies, or procedures, and making and paying for structural alterations to a unit or common areas. The Landlord is not required to provide accommodations that constitute a fundamental alteration to the Landlord’s program or which would pose a substantial financial and administrative hardship. See the regulations at 24 CFR Part 8. In addition, if a requested structural modification does pose a substantial financial and administrative hardship, the Landlord must then allow the tenant to make and pay for the modification in accordance with the Fair Housing Act.”
Also the lease agreement discusses the termination of tenancy under number 23/6/a/b which reads, “that threatens the health, safety, or right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises by other residents (including property management staff residing on the premises); or that threatens the health, safety, or right to peaceful enjoyment of their residences by persons residing in the immediate vicinity of the premises.”
Who is Kevin Smith?
In LaFayette, Kevin Smith is known as the “Civil War guy.” He’s often seen walking through town dressed as a Confederate soldier with a calvary saber and a replica .52caliber Sharps carbine.
Smith voluntarily picks up trash along streets, trims weeds, rakes leaves and cleans out storm drains.
As part of his own, self-described Neighborhood Watch, he frequently calls Walker County 911 to report crimes he sees.
Smith is diabetic, and Wednesday, June 8, a nurse was treating two large sores on the balls of his feet, acquired while walking throug town waving the Confederate flag and doing his volunteer work.
Smith has said he suffers from schizoaffective disorder and battles depression.
Downtime is the worst thing for my disorder because my mind festers and the negative thoughts produce,” he said in a 2009 interview. “I have to keep busy.”
Smith said he is not active with Civil War re-enactor groups because “no one wants to participate in local history.”
The complaint
LaFayette Housing Authority have declined discussing the case.
Smith said Authority officials have declined telling him who filed the complaint. “They’re protecting them,” he said.
But Smith says he had run-ins with a neighbor when he allowed a homeless per-
son to stay at his residence. The neighbor, Smith said, reported that incident to the Authority.
Smith said it was not the first time he had allowed someone to stay at his residence.
He said the neighbor
also found issue with him over a roach infestation inside his residence.
Asked if he would feel upset if a neighbor set up a display of the Ku Klux Klan, which has its own history in the area, Smith said, “It would upset me, but I wouldn’t go and try to take it down, because that’s his First Amendment
right.”
Troublesome display
“The (display) with the Confederate flag has been there (on my lawn) three years,” Smith said.
Before that, the display, its flag attached to a telephone pole, was next door to the Chattanooga Street Tavern.
But Smith said he moved the display to his home after a business owner threatened him, telling him to take down the flag.
Though he told police about the threat, Smith said they refused to make an arrest. Instead, he said he was given the choice of going to jail or to Highland Rivers Health because he was accused of making terroristic threats. There are no police reports on the incident.
Smith recalled summer 2015 when a tourist train was scheduled to come through. The city council allowed him to set up his Battle of LaFayette display at the train depot. He asked the council to let him
fire a salute, using a blank cartridge, at the Union soldier mannequin as the train came to a stop. That request was denied.
“I had to stand there with my empty shotgun going ‘woo woo woo, woo who woo’ and look stupid,” Smith said, “because I couldn’t pop powder and let them take a picture.”