Did that get your attention? No... I'm not calling for surrender, far from it. The white flag is raised in auto racing to signal the last lap of the race. We have entered into the last year of the four-year Sesquicentennial observance of the War; now is the time to "make our move."
You've heard it said that "all politics is local"; in similar manner, "all Confederate Heritage is local." We win (or lose) our battles community-by-community, state-by-state, all across the Southland. For that reason, the relationships that our Camps develop in their communities are of great importance, among these are our relationships with local and state law enforcement.
You will recall that last year we began a program to allow local Camps to honor their sheriff and police departments and Divisions to honor their highway patrol (or whatever the statewide agency might be). Based on the reports that came back to us, there was much goodwill and positive PR for the SCV as a result. However, we need to do more this year.
Here's how it works -- the week of May 11-17 is Law Enforcement Officer Appreciation Week. We need all Camps to participate in this -- if you meet in a municipal setting, honor your police department; if you meet in an unincorporated area, honor your sheriffs office. You have a great deal of latitude with this; you can:
--Honor the agency in general
--Honor the Sheriff / Chief
--Ask for the name of an officer to honor
You've heard it said that "all politics is local"; in similar manner, "all Confederate Heritage is local." We win (or lose) our battles community-by-community, state-by-state, all across the Southland. For that reason, the relationships that our Camps develop in their communities are of great importance, among these are our relationships with local and state law enforcement.
You will recall that last year we began a program to allow local Camps to honor their sheriff and police departments and Divisions to honor their highway patrol (or whatever the statewide agency might be). Based on the reports that came back to us, there was much goodwill and positive PR for the SCV as a result. However, we need to do more this year.
Here's how it works -- the week of May 11-17 is Law Enforcement Officer Appreciation Week. We need all Camps to participate in this -- if you meet in a municipal setting, honor your police department; if you meet in an unincorporated area, honor your sheriffs office. You have a great deal of latitude with this; you can:
--Honor the agency in general
--Honor the Sheriff / Chief
--Ask for the name of an officer to honor
Use your own initiative and pick out an officer based on his / her performance
Similarly, the place and time can vary:
--Utilize a camp meeting and invite the honoree
--Utilize a CMD service if you're in a state that recognizes May 10
--Call and ask permission to come to their offices
--Try to hit our target week, May 11 - May 18
IMPORTANT: Please don't get sidetracked with details; as Nike says. "Just Do It."
ALSO -- DIVISIONS: make sure that you participate by honoring your statewide law enforcement agencies; the above observations work for you, as well.
The certificate is available online. Here is a link --
http://www.scv.org/pdf/lawcert.pdf
OK, got it? We need to really hit a home run with this; let's make sure that every state, every county, every town and city across Dixie hears from us in this initiative.
Gene Hogan
Chief of Heritage Operations
Sons of Confederate Veterans
(866) 681 - 7314
