page_title: Hal B. Wansley Power Plant
section_title: Yellow Dirt Church Cemetery controversy
hierarchical_section_title: Hal B. Wansley Power Plant / Yellow Dirt Church Cemetery controversy
caption_attribution_description: English: On 08 October 2011, the Sons of Confederate Veterans replaced flags on several graves including Lewis H. Brown after the original flags were removed from Yellow Dirth Church Cemetery by Georgia Power.
context_page_description: Hal B. Wansley Power Plant is a power station located in northeastern Heard County, between Franklin and Carrollton, in the state of Georgia, United States. Its various units, powered by coal, oil, and natural gas, are operated by Southern Company, Georgia Power Company, Oglethorpe Power Corporation, Municipal Electric Authority and Dalton Utilities.
context_section_description: Historic Yellow Dirt Church Cemetery is located on the grounds of the power plant. Visitors have to stop at the plant's gate and have a security guard escort them to the cemetery.
  The cemetery was part of a larger tract of land owned by the Yellow Dirt Baptist Church (founded 1872). When the church building and land was sold to Georgia Power, in 1971, the church (now Lighthouse Baptist Church of Franklin, Georgia) and congregation retained ownership to a two-acre parcel which including the cemetery. Problems eventually arose, however, when Georgia Power employees attempted to assert control over the private two-acre parcel. 
  In September 2011, a Georgia Power employee entered the cemetery and removed seven Confederate flags placed on the graves of Confederate veterans. The flags were replaced in October 2011 by the local Sons of Confederate Veterans, but were subsequently removed again by employees of the utility based on a company policy prohibiting the display of "offensive materials" on company property. Members of the church congregation, some of whom had Confederate ancestors buried in the cemetery, protested. Congregation members asserting their property rights to the cemetery, stating that the flags were not placed on company property and that Georgia Power had no right to interfere with the practice. Georgia Power conceded the matter after company attorneys completed a title search in November 2011. Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and descendants of Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery, who had earlier protested the utility's actions, returned to the cemetery to replace the confiscated flags
caption: Civil War reenactors replacing Confederate flags illegally removed by Georgia Power
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