Smoke rises over Civil War cannon sales

[struggle4progress]

BEN DOBBIN
Associated Press

GROTON, N.Y. - Since 1994, Bruce Stiles has coaxed towns from Nebraska to New Hampshire to sell their Civil War cannons, iron and bronze sentinels that have graced cemeteries and parks for a century or more.

His success in obtaining dozens of muzzleloaders for private collectors in Pennsylvania stirs unrest wherever he goes, but usually after the fact. Weeks or even months can go by before residents even realize their veterans' memorial has been whisked away. <snip>

Cannons have quietly vanished from at least nine small towns across New York since 1998. But very few of the sales created the sort of ruckus that ignited in Kendall near Lake Ontario in March and put collectors under an uncomfortable spotlight. <snip>

The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, which is trying to drum up support in Congress to quell bartering in cannons, noted a 2003 law makes it a federal offense to "injure or destroy" armed forces' monuments on public property or transport them across state lines. <snip>

http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/12383368.htm

[madeline_con]

1. Curious angle...

"But Stiles, in an angry defense of his activities when he finally responded to repeated Associated Press phone calls, said, "All we want to do is preserve the cannons. We're not doing anything wrong. The people that are neglecting them are doing the wrong thing, the people who are letting them rust, the people who are letting them get vandalized and stolen."


This reminds me of a guy in the neighborhood who commented on a newly acquired lawn ornament by saying, "When I saw it I thought, well, I better take this before somebody steals it."