“He had to do a lot of research to get these names [of Confederate soldiers,” Wilson said. “[The response was] at the same time put a plaque of Union soldiers who passed away from Carroll County. We really haven’t heard anything back about that. … It’s kind of a loose end and that’s where it is. We won’t allow anything to be put on the monument. There are two emblems on there for the Confederacy. Now, there needs to be two emblems for the Union. We want both sides treated the same. … He can put them on if it’s a Civil War monument.

“Maybe he’s dong research now in order to accommodate us.”

The discussion on the Confederate monument came just minutes after the commission voted to add to its rules what was first labeled on the meeting agenda as a “social activism policy.”

The commission opted in the end not to use those words but voted unanimously to add to its policies a stipulation that a burial plot must contain the legal name and birthdate on a permanent fixture.

“We have a Confederate monument out here and that’s the way it was presented,” Wilson said. “Now, it’s a Civil War monument and no telling what it will be in the future. I want to try to discourage social activism of any kind in the cemetery.”

Massie has indicated that he, or someone, will be buried on the plot where the obelisk sits, Wilson said, adding that the new policy can’t be enforced retroactively.

“The issue is that he has backed himself into a corner when he came out and said ‘I will be buried there,’ and since we’ve adopted all these new rules and regulations,” Danvers said. “This is just one more … now that we’re able to enforce what goes on these inscriptions he knows he’s got to get his name on there. … He knows he’s got to fulfill what he said. This is a monument to the Civil War so he’s got to have that plaque. He’s got to have his burial name as he said he was going to do. …” Until Massie makes the changes he told commissioners he would make, the monument is in violation of cemetery policy, Danvers said.

“I would just like it known … we as a body of commissioners are not happy with the current state of Mr. Massie’s monument on his plot,” Danvers said. “It is in complete violation of our current rules and regulations and as well as the initial 1978 [regulations], which established the cemetery. It’s a complete violation as recorded and confirmed by the city attorney in writing to us.

“My point was, at the end of 2023 … we believe this is an unresolved issue with this ongoing Confederate monument and further action needs to be taken for compliance for said property owner.”

The obelisk came to light last spring after it was erected on Massie’s plot and even led to city council member Harry Meyer calling for all cemetery commissioners to resign.

Meyer told a regional radio program that he would like to see commission members step down after the discovery of the obelisk.

“All I can say is I would love to have our cemetery commission just resign over this,” Meyer said on Ozarks at Large, a weekday program and podcast on Fayetteville-based NPR station KUAF. The report added that Meyer said the commission “should have blocked installation of what he describes as a monument to white supremacy in their town burial ground.”

The radio piece was done by reporter Jacqueline Froelich, and included comments from Meyer, Eureka Springs Mayor Butch Berry and former cemetery groundskeeper and sexton Patrick Lujan.

The obelisk, a stone pillar typically set up as a monument or landmark, was built on a lot purchased by Massie for $1,000, according to Froelich’s report.

In late June, former commissioners Bruce Wright and Robert Tollett submitted letters of resignation to Berry and members of the commission, citing family and personal reasons for stepping down.

The resignations followed a June 14 regular meeting, when only some of the commissioners voiced opposition to the monument being built on cemetery property.

“This place was founded to help the poor bury their dead,” Danvers said at the June 14 meeting. “Myself, as a commissioner, I am not in favor of any monument project out here. This spirit of a cemetery is about interment, bodies, ashes, whatever. It is not by activism.”

Wright was questioned at the June 14 meeting about his role in overseeing at least some of the project, while Tollett said he felt anyone who buys a lot could do whatever they wanted.

“In my opinion it is a First Amendment right of freedom,” Tollett said at the June 14 meeting. “You buy a plot, it’s a private piece of property and what you do with it as long as it meets cemetery rules …” Massie serves as commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Seaborn Jones Cotten Camp in Eureka Springs, named after his fourth great-grandfather, who fought for the Confederacy.

A press release was posted on the Seaborn Jones Cotten No. 2303 Facebook page on June 20 explaining the group’s position on the subject.

“It seems necessary to create context to the Eureka Springs ‘Confederate monument’ as between the Eureka Springs rumor mill, the news media and a Eureka Springs City Council member misinformation has ran rampant,” the post reads. “Let us be clear! This is a monument to Confederate soldiers who died while serving from Carroll County, Arkansas. This is also a monument to commemorate civilians and even Union Soldiers who served from Carroll County that perished in the 1861-1865 conflict. If remembering the dead that died in this county during the American Civil War is wrong. We proudly will continue to be wrong. This is a Civil War tragedy monument that will also bare the names of Confederate Soldiers in the Eureka Springs Cemetery.

“This is not a monument to celebrate, to parade around and shout hurrah for a new Confederate monument. It is a memorial marker. Lay flowers, and place a Civil War period flag. Be respectful this is for the hundreds men and boys who never came home.”