Fort Smith attroney seeks charges against city adminstrator over failure to reinstall historic flag

Fort Smith attorney Joey McCutchen hand-delivered a letter to Sebastian County prosecuting attorney Daniel Shue today asking that Fort Smith City Administrator Carl Geffken be charged with a Class-A misdemeanor for repeatedly violating the Arkansas State Capitol and Historical Monument Protection Act.

The request comes after the City of Fort Smith refused to reinstall the “Flags over Fort Smith” display after the Arkansas History Commission rejected its waiver request to permanently remove the monument. Mr. Geffken removed all seven flags and the commemorative plaques from the display without City Board approval or any public input.

The City later proposed the idea of replacing the “Flags over Fort Smith” display with flags honoring the U.S. military branches.

While McCutchen totally supports the idea of honoring our military heroes, he believes that the display should be placed in our military park, Cisterna Park on Garrison Avenue honoring General William O. Darby.

McCutchen has also offered to raise money to create a U.S. military flag display at Cisterna Park.

McCutchen said, “There is a dangerous and slippery slope when removing, revising, sanitizing and erasing history. It is my belief that we should keep all of our history before us.”

McCutchen further stated, “I believe we should learn from our history and use it as an educational moment. If we don’t learn from our history, we are destined to repeat it.”

See attached letter sent to Daniel Shue with attachments.