Panel: No to supremacist rally at Stone Mountain

ATLANTA — White supremacists had planned on capitalizing on the international attention drawn to Atlanta during Super Bowl LIII to stage a rally at Stone Mountain next February, but the state body that oversees the park said no.

In a Nov. 7 letter, the Stone Mountain Memorial Association denied a permit to “Rock Stone Mountain II” organizers Greg Calhoun of Cedartown, and John Estes citing a “clear and present danger” to public safety.

Calhoun is a self-admitted member of the Ku Klux Klan. Estes is a white supremacist with a history of arrests and imprisonment for criminal offenses ranging from shoplifting to burglary to stalking.

Both men have been involved in protests at Stone Mountain since the 2015 massacre of black church members in Charleston by a white supremacist which put the Confederate flag and memorials in the cultural cross hairs.

“Based on the previous violent event held by your organization on April 23, 2016, as well as your acknowledgment of potential violence in the permit application comments, the Stone Mountain Park Department of Public Safety does not have the available resources to protect not only the members of your organization but the Park employees and general public,” Association CEO Bill Stephens wrote.

In their application, Calhoun and Estes described the event as a “non partisan gathering to call attention to the efforts of the extreme left and Communists to remove history and monuments of the American people. This includes the NAACP seeking to remove the Stone Mountain carving.”

Calhoun and Estes did not return calls seeking comment and as of Tuesday they had made no comment about the denial on any of their social media pages.