On August 29, Brag Bowling, SCV Virginia Division commander, reported to the Dixie Daily News on a speech that Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center had given at Roanoke College the night before. Here is part of Bowling’s report: "One interesting note was an admission by Dees himself that the Save the SCV contingent was in communication with him and also sent him money. He actually said that during his lecture."

Within the next couple of days, Save the SCV received a similar allegation and several inquiries on the matter. The second allegation, by SCV member Jim Austin, stated that a "friend in Virginia" told him that Dees, "talked of the SCV and your group" [Save the SCV] and "admitted being in contact with Cmdr. Hawks and that he had received money from his supporters."

Save the SCV has no direct reliable information on what Morris Dees said during his speech. We didn’t attend. The only reason that this incident is worth mentioning is that those in the SCV and League of the South who hate the Southern Poverty Law Center more than they care about Confederate heritage think that this a "smoking gun." They are desperate to prove that Save the SCV is in partnership with the SPLC just like CIC Wilson and Kirk Lyons are in partnership with the League of the South: then somehow, what Wilson and Lyons are doing to the SCV won’t seem so bad.

We at Save the SCV have contacted a newspaper, two television stations, and Roanoke College in order to find-out just what it was that Morris Dees said. Zeke Barlow, who wrote an article for the Roanoke Times, says of Dees’ speech, "I don’t recall him making any statement about contributions to the SPLC from your group." We have asked him to review his audio tapes and confirm this.

Television station WDBJ (channel 7 in Roanoke) also responded to Save the SCV inquiries. Joe Dashiell at WDBJ stated, "I have reviewed our news stories on the speech, and did not see any references to the comments you are seeking." (A transcript of WDBJ’s news item on Dees’ speech is on the Internet at: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/WDBJ-7/script_archives/03/0803/082803/082803.11.htm). Save the SCV has received no information from television channel 10 in Roanoke at this time.

Mr. Michael Santoroski at Roanoke College has referred our inquiry to the school’s Media Services department. We at Save the SCV hope that the college video-taped the entire speech and the question and answer session that presumably followed. We will report what the college tells us. That should settle the matter as to who said what.

Save the SCV has every intention of getting to the truth of this. If anyone has video tape or other verifiable documentation on the Dees speech, please let us know. In the face of our inability, thus far, to confirm or disprove what Mr. Bowling has charged, perhaps he needs to prove his allegation. If it is true, then Morris Dees will have to prove that Save the SCV has donated money to the Southern Poverty Center or retract his statement. If Mr. Bowling’s allegation is false, then he is a liar.

For those of you who still care about the truth in the midst of the current SCV unpleasantness: Save the SCV has given no money to Morris Dees or to the SPLC. Save the SCV has no money, no bank accounts, no membership lists, and hasn’t donated any money to anybody for anything.

The sad part about this episode is that we are all wasting our time on it. None of the issues that face the SCV have anything to do with Morris Dees, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the liberal media, or any of the other smoke-screens that CIC Wilson and his co-conspirators have manufactured. Save the SCV has in the past quoted various media sources, including the SPLC’s Intelligence Report. We have never denied it.

Save the SCV will continue to deal with inquiries from the SPLC and from the rest of the media as we have for the past year. We will answer reasonable questions, we will operate in an open and public forum, and we will be honest about what is going on in the SCV. That’s what Save the SCV has been doing from the beginning. That’s what the SCV, as a non-profit 501 c3 public corporation, should be doing now.

If Save the SCV wins this fight, the SCV will operate in the light of day, not in back-room meetings with gag-orders and witch-hunts. If Ron Wilson, Kirk Lyons, and the League of the South win, the true and honorable story of the Confederate soldier will go down the tube of extremism right along with the SCV.

Click here for PART II -  MORRIS DEES SAID WHAT?