The Frontier Chronicle
Sons of Confederate Veterans
2nd Texas Frontier District Camp #1904
(254) 734-6964
Our charge: “To you, Sons of Confederate Veterans, we submit the vindication of the Cause for which we fought; to your
strength will be given the defense of the Confederate soldier’s good name, the guardianship of his history, the emulation of his
virtues, the perpetuation of those principles he loved and which made him glorious and which you also cherish. Remember it is
your duty to see that the true history of the South is presented to future generations.” –Lt. General Stephen Dill Lee, C.S.A.,
Commander General, United Confederate Veterans
Camp Officers:
Frank Bussey—Commander (254) 734-6964
Charles Leatherwood—1st Lt.Commander
Cliff Weible—2nd Lt. Commander
Joe Williams—3rd Lt.Commander
Charles Ditmore—Adjutant
Jerry Shugart– Aide-de-Camp
Past Commander—Thomas Harrison
Past Commander—Charles Leatherwood
Past Commander— Ronny Jennings
March, 2015
We are greatly saddened by the loss of our compatriot Blayne Williamson. We will miss him
immensely and he will always be remembered fondly by all of us who knew him.
Commander's Report 03-2015
We hope you have read the e-mails and written a letter to your Representative concerning the bill introduced in the Texas legislature by Representative
Donna Howard (D-Austin) to eliminate “Confederate Heroes Day” and replace it with a “Civil War Remembrance Day” in May to honor all persons
who fought in the Civil War. This is yet another revisionist attempt to make history more
‘politically correct’ and remove the symbols of our Southern heritage. Please, contact your
State Representative and voice your opposition to this Bill. We gain a much fairer hearing if we
are polite and respectful in our contacts, and if we are able to articulate why we are opposed to
the legislation. Consider going to the Texas Division Reunion, put it on your calendar for June
5 - 6, 2015 in Temple, Texas. The Division Reunion is a great event for you to connect with
members from other camps, peruse vendors of Confederate merchandise, and participate in the
business sessions. This is a particularly important reunion since it includes brigade and division
officer elections. This is your opportunity to have a say in the direction our brigade and division are heading. Every camp will have their number of delegates to vote for division officers
based on the size of their membership on May 1st. I learned, at the March DEC meeting, that
many people in our division are not paying Texas Division Dues and our camp delegation size
could be affected by this. You must have paid your Texas Division Dues to vote and if they are
not it will count against the camp delegation. We must have a delegate list to them by May
15th so we will be forced to elect delegates and alternates at our April Meeting. Please consider
taking at least one day to help decide the direction of your division. I encourage you to get your
dues paid at our March Meeting (this impacts the membership roster and the number of delegates we will be allotted),. It would be great to have a bus load of Camp 1904 members to attend the Temple reunion and participate in the 7th brigade elections.
The Supreme
Court of the USA will hear our case March 23, 2015. The ACLU, in support of the Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), noted that the State of Texas, "by creating a specialty license plate program as a forum for private speech, and then regulating access to that forum...(engaged) in explicit viewpoint discrimination. By excluding SCV from the state’s license plate program, Texas therefore violated the First Amendment, as the Fifth Circuit correctly held." Issues: (1) Whether the messages and images that appear on state-issued specialty
license plates qualify as government speech immune from any requirement of viewpoint neutrality; and (2) whether Texas engaged in “viewpoint discrimination” by rejecting the licenseplate design proposed by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, when Texas has not issued any license plate that portrays the Confederacy or the Confederate battle flag in a negative or critical
light. http://www.scotusblog.com/ once here, search for Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans By the end of March we should be able to read a transcript of the pleadings in
our case, and hear an audio tape of them as well. This should be available at http://
www.supremecourt.gov/ The transcripts of oral arguments are posted on this Website on the
same day an argument is heard by the Court. Same-day transcripts are considered official but
subject to final review. The audio recordings of all oral arguments heard by the Supreme
Court of the United States are available to the public at the end of each argument week. The
audio recordings are posted on Fridays after Conference. Please continue to pray for our victory in this major freedom of speech case. The license plates of other states may hang in the balance. We received word from our friends in Arkansas that House bill HB1113, http://
www.arkansashouse.org/bills?bill=2015RHB1113, that would have removed General Lee's
Birthday from the State Lee/King holiday, was killed in a house committee Wednesday, February 11th, by an 10 - 7 vote. This is the second attempt this legislative session, by Representative Nate Bell (R), from Mesa to remove the holiday. The recent victory was the result of a
joint effort of many different heritage organizations and citizens, led by the Arkansas Division,
SCV. The attacks on our heritage continue unabated. A special Thank You to the following
men who participated in the Dublin St Patrick's Day Parade 03-14-2015: David Cotton,
Charles Ditmore, Jarrod Jennings, Ronny Jennings, Charles Leatherwood, Dan Leatherwood,
Ken Leatherwood, Don Page, Gene Skaggs, Travis Ake, Mason Spikes and Randy Spikes. It
was good to see them, taking the time to honor their ancestors. We were joined by David
McMahon, 3rd Lt Commander, Texas Division, his wife Golda was attending the UDC District
VII spring meeting in Stephenville. We were blessed to have Sheran Weible and Rita Trosper
of the UDC join us. They were given an excused absence from their District Meeting to join us
and represent the Women of the South. I encourage you to come out and join us at the F & M
Motor Bank, 240 South Texas St., DeLeon, Texas on Tuesday, March 24th. Furthermore, invite
a friend, the educational aspect of the SCV is vitally important since few others are telling our
side of the story. Our own Randall Scott Erwin will be speaking on the subject "FLAGS OF
OUR GRANDFATHERS" . April is Confederate History month in Texas, do your best to have
your flags in place by the first of the month.
The muffled drum's sad roll has beat
The soldier's last tattoo;
No more on Life's parade shall meet
The brave and fallen few.
On Fame's eternal camping-ground
Their silent tents are spread
And Glory guards, with solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead.
—THEODORE O'HARA
I look forward to shaking you hand at our
March Meeting.
Your Commander,
Frank Bussey
“Keep the Soldier's Flag Flying!”
1st Lt. Commander’s Report
The Dublin Parade went well and we were well received, as usual, by the people of Dublin. All
of our parade equipment was finally gathered together from here, there, and everywhere
that it got scattered to over the winter. Ronny had to cope with losing our parade C.D. in the
player when it shorted out due to moisture, but he got it all going at the last minute and everything went well. We have the Granbury parade coming up on the 21st and it should be no
problem - if we can get enough help. It is really tough when we get the meeting schedule
messed up. The meetings are where you find out who can be at a certain event or not and
then you can plan accordingly. I had rather drop a trailer off than to put one in a parade virtually empty. I can’t thank all of you enough for attending the events we do and making it possible to create the right impression on the public. We have a lot of super folks in our camp and
it shows when they put on a parade or a school demonstration.
I would like to say a few words about Blayne. Blayne was one our camp’s rock-solid members. I could always count on him to be there to help and relied on him for advice on historical war events. He really knew his history, and I learned early on to rely on his comments.
When I served as Commander I always watched Blayne’s face. I could tell how things were going just by watching his facial expressions. He had an “old fashioned” forthright honesty
about him that I appreciated. He didn’t tell me what I wanted to hear, he told me his honest
opinion or kept quiet, usually meaning “Well you haven’t totally screwed it all up, YET!” In
nearly every parade , school function or grave service I would get an opportunity to ease up
beside him and ask “What are you doing?” He would give a furtive glance to the right, to the
left, then look straight ahead and reply “Nothing”. When our camp loses members like Blayne
we are suffering a serious loss that cannot be replaced. I have had more than one boss or acquaintance tell me thru life , “Don’t think you can’t be replaced” and I gave them a chance to
find out at my earliest and most painful time for them to find out. Well, Blayne can’t be replaced no matter what is done. He was one of a kind, my friend and fellow compatriot and I
am really going to miss him. Bet you all one thing, Blayne ain’t playin’ no harp or humming a
hymn, Blayne is strumming his guitar and singing “ I’m a Good old Rebel “.
Charley
Upcoming Events
March 21, 2015 (Saturday) Granbury Parade 11:00 a.m. (a part of The Texas Independence Day Celebration) Any member who wishes to join the Confeder ate entr y please join
us at 9:30 to get lined up for the parade on the Granbury School Administration Building parking lot (Pearl St. and Morgan St.).
1:30 p.m.: Annual General Granbury graveside service honor ing Gen. Gr anbur y, our
Confederate ancestors and the “South”. (Bring your muskets)
March 24, 2014 (Tuesday) Next Camp Meeting: 7:00 p.m. at the F&M Motor Bank in
DeLeon. The program will be presented by author, rancher and Texas storyteller, Randal Scott
Erwin. (Randal is also a valued member of our SCV camp.) Refreshments will be provided by
Virginia Anglin and Kathi Williams. A vote will be taken on whether or not to proceed with
plans for a monument and the purchase of signs for Comanche, parts of Mills, Eastland and
Brown County cemeteries.
Confederate Flags have been furnished by
2nd Texas Frontier District camp 1904
Sons of Confederate Veterans
Flags have been placed on the graves of Confederate soldiers to honor these men who left their fields and
businesses to defend their homes and families against an invasion from the North. They fought with honor
and bravery facing an army better equipped and that greatly outnumbered them. Nevertheless, they became
a fighting force to be both feared and respected. When the war ended, many veterans left a devastated
Southland and came to Texas to begin new lives. They established homes, schools, churches and businesses.
For information about becoming a member of a Confederate Heritage Organization, please contact:
Frank Bussey, Commander
Jo yce Whitis, President
2nd Texas Frontier District Camp 1904
Major George B. Erath 2679 Chapter
Sons of Confederate Veterans
United Daughters of the Confederacy
(254) 734-6964
(254) 968-8450
Proposed signs for Comanche County Cemeteries
To provide signs for the 59 Comanche, 24 Mills and 4 Eastland County cemeteries that
our camp places flags, the cost will be $609. Bids were taken from 3 sign providers and
$7 was the best bid. They will be provided by the same business as the ones on Erath
County cemeteries that were provided by Major George B. Erath, UDC.
Memorial to
Blayne Dee Williamson
Blayne Dee Williamson was born
on July 3, 1944 in Gorman, Texas to
James Virgil Williamson and Vada Aulene (Looney) Williamson. He died on
Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015 at his home in
Dublin.
He was a retired public school coach
and science teacher, coaching for the
Burleson ISD and coaching and teaching science for the Brewer ISD.
Williamson is survived by his brothers,
James Richard Williamson of Fort
Worth, Texas and Wayne Lee Williamson of Dublin and many friends and
other relatives who will miss him dearly. Blayne was a very active member of the 2nd Texas Frontier District Camp #1904, Sons of Confederate
Veterans. He was always dependable and participated in every event, including parades, grave
dedications, memorial dedications, school
presentations and other special events.
We will miss him very much!
Firing the Cannon
Blayne Williamson
Marching in Parades
Blayne Williamson
Participating in Dedications
Blayne Williamson
Participating in Special Events
Blayne Williamson
Continued in Part 2