Text Box: Beauvoir, the Jefferson Davis Home & Presidential Library, has issued its first Director’s Certificate of Excellence to three staff  members for their commitment to post-Katrina cleanup and recovery.  They are Quentin Kersten, facilities foreman (center); Jay Peterson, security chief  (right); and Richard R. Flowers, curator (left). “Without their dedication and fortitude,” said Patrick Hotard, executive director, “the facility could not have Text Box: been cleared of debris and artifact search could not have been completed.”  He said they spent many days in the large debris field that once covered several acres north of the presidential library.  As the debris was removed, they assisted supervising contractors and help to preserve salvageable items and assisted with the  archaeological recovery of artifacts.  This search centered on the rubble that was once the Confederate Soldier’s Museum. Text Box:       Text Box: Text Box: The fight over Beauvoir ownership settled in court Text Box: that evolved into the present Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc. In 1902, Varina Davis, the widow of Jefferson Davis, entered into negotiations with the Mississippi Division concerning the Association purchasing Beauvoir.  Since an unincorporated association could not own real estate, members of the Mississippi Division formed a nonprofit corporation to receive title to the property.  The charter issued by the State of Mississippi provided that the directors of the corporation were to be elected by members of the Division and stated that all members in good standing of the Association were members of the corporation.  Since a nonprofit corporation does not issue stock, membership is comparable to being a stockholder in the corporation. The 1902 deed from Mrs. Text Box: The 1902 deed from Mrs.Davis to the corporation and a 1905 corrected warranty deed provided that the property could only be sold by the corporation to the State of Mississippi.  It also required that Beauvoir be utilized as a home for indigent Confederate veterans and their dependents and descendents and that the property be managed as a memorial to Jefferson Davis. In 2005, a majority of the directors of the corporation adopted a resolution requiring payment of additional annual dues to the corporation as a condition of continued membership.  The vast majority of members of the Division refused to pay these dues; and thus, the governing board of the corporation denied membership status in the corporation to those who refused to pay in clear violation of the corporate charter.  A majority of the directors then attempted to amend the corporate charter so as                                                        Text Box: The following statement is issued by the Hon. Wayne Easterling, attorney for the Mississippi Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans and is approved by Richard V. Forte, Sr., Chairman of the Combined Boards of Beauvoir. After the Civil War, Confederate veterans and their families began gathering together for social and civic purposes.  Over time, these groups became more organized; and by the beginning of the Twentieth Century many Mississippi veterans and their descendents were organized as a voluntary unincorporated association that referred to itself as the “Mississippi Division of the United Sons of Confederate Veterans.”  Other states and geographical areas had formed similar unincorporated associations; and in 1896, the Mississippi association and others became affiliated with the corporation Text Box: Page 3 Text Box:  

Text Box:  Beauvoir honors three for recovery efforts     Text Box: to amend to sever the longstanding relationship between the Division and the corporation.   The Executive Council of the Division authorized Commander Ed Funchess to bring a lawsuit challenging this action of the directors.  Commander Funchess filed a lawsuit in Chancery Court seeking to undo the action of the majority of the directors An amended complaint was later filed in which approximately 75 additional members of the Division joined with Commander Funchess seeking the same relief. On July 18, 2006, the Chancery Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Mississippi, granted summary judgment to Commander Funchess and other members of the Association.  This order clearly established that Beauvoir is owned by the Mississippi Division of the United Sons, a Mississippi nonprofit      (continued on page 4)