Newton County Superior Court Judge John Ott has issued a stay order that bars Newton County Commissioners from removing the county’s Confederate monument until the appropriate court had rendered a final decision. Furthermore, according to a media release from the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the group filed an appeal of the case with the state Court of Appeals and, should it prove necessary, will take the case to the Georgia Supreme Court.
Some background: Last month Newton County Commission Chairman Marcello Banes sought to have the Confederate monument secretly removed in the dead of night. Yet this was in defiance of an open court agreement during a hearing at which Banes was present. Banes well knew that the county was not to remove the veterans’ monument until the final decision was made. Interestingly, the judge’s stay order says that the Commission chairman will be served personally with the order— and the order also allows the Newton County sheriff the right to arrest anyone who attempts to remove the Confederate monument.
“These actions of disrespect toward the Superior Court by Chairman Banes is further evidence that he and his fellow County Commissioners have no regard for Superior Court Rulings or State Law,” the SCV says. “They seem to think they are self-empowered to blatantly violate State Law passed by Georgia’s State Legislators or ignore agreements made in open court.”
The Georgia SCV also says it “will be filing amendments to all their on-going lawsuits to include the mayors, City Council members and County Commissioners to make them personally liable for their blatant violation of State Law 50-3-1.” That would include Athens-Clarke County, Rockdale County and several other locales in Georgia.
Click Here for a PDF Copy of the Newton County Stay Order
