Taryn Farmer – 8/30/2011 Message




Mr. Edgerton,

My name is Taryn Farmer and I am from Reidsville, North Carolina. In May of this year, our Confederate Monument, which has stood in the same place downtown for the past 101 years was struck by a van. The man was supposedly was asleep at the wheel when he hit it, but there is no way that could have happened. He would have ended up hitting one of the buildings before her ever reached the monument which stands on a hill.

In June, there was a large City Council meeting held in our town. Most of the city turned out for this meeting, and 55+% of people want the monument replaced. The City has stated that they do not want to offend anyone but they refuse to replace the statue, stating that it is just too controversial. The city of Reidsville would not be putting forth any money to rebuild the soldier on top, the mans insurance would pay for it.

Since June a fellow by the name of Jamie Funkhouser has been standing in front of the destroyed monument base, doing the job of the soldier. He has been threatened to be imprisoned and many other things by a few random people, but mostly he has been taken care of by the majority who want the statue replaced.

In the past month, me and 18 of my friends has formed a group that we call the Historical Political Action Committee. We though we were doing pretty good. We have been talking to lawyers and trying to get our group recognized as a non-profit organization. We have seeked the help of the President of the UDC in Raleigh and she refuses to help any of us. She says that by replacing the Monument it will be a disgrace to the UDC.

We found out yesterday that one of our members of our group has been a double agent of sorts and has been lying to the people we need the help from. He has been stating all around town that we are a KKK front and that the local UDC and SCV chapters that have been willing to help us are all Klans men. Basically, we are almost sunk because no one wants to help the people that they think are in the Klan.

What I am seeking is your advise on the situation. Is there anything you know of that we could do to help our situation? We have been trying to find a good lawyer that would help put a hold on anything the city could do about moving the base and push for a public vote. I can give you the names of several people in my group if you would like to talk to them. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely,
Taryn Farmer

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From: HK Edgerton [hk.edgerton@gmail.com]
Subject: Re: New messages from Taryn Farmer
Date: Friday, September 9, 2011

Dear Ms. Taryn,

Please let me asssure you that the Reidsville monument is constantly on my mind. I have forwarded your message to some of my UDC friends , and await their reply, and hope they will respond to you in kind. I aslo forwarded it to Kirk D. Lyons , the Chief trial Counselor at the Southern Legal Resource Center for comment. Should I raise the funds to visit, then I shall.

Your brother,

HK