UPDATE re: Memorial Day flags on graves at St. Augustine National Cemetery

I am hopeful that flags will be placed on individual graves at the St. Augustine National Cemetery this year.

I had several good conversations with VA yesterday, including the General Counsel and a. counselor to the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs in charge of cemeteries.

It is First Amendment protected activity to place flags on graves. Social distancing can be accomplished here to allow people to place flags on all the graves.   It's a tiny cemetery (1.4 acres) and the VA's controversial one-size-fits-all decision makes no sense for our Nation's oldest national cemetery, founded in 1828.

Here's the letter I sent May 19th, requesting that VA allow flags be placed on all graves:

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin
To: randy.reeves@va.gov
Cc: william.hudson3@va.gov ; ERNIE_AUDINO@mail.house.gov ; Micah.ketchel@mail.house.gov ; 
Sent: Tue, May 19, 2020 7:08 pm
Subject: Memorial Day Flags on Graves at St. Augustine National Cemetery -- APA Status Inquiry on my exoedited E-FOIA request of May 16, 2020

Dear VA Under Secretary Reeves:

1.  I spoke today by telephone with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs General Counsel, Col. William A. Hudson, Jr. (Ret.), who suggested that I contact you to make my request that VA kindly approve and allow American flags to be placed on graves in our St. Augustine National Cemetery for Memorial Day, 2020.

2.  I explained to Col. Hudson how easily COVID-19 social distancing might be implemented at our tiny 1.4 acre St. Augustine National Cemetery while American flags are placed on graves, a traditional honor provided by local St. Johns County Boy Scout troops.  (I left a phone message for your earlier.). 

3. This is our oldest national cemetery, established in 1828. The graves in our St. Augustine National Cemetery include Seminole War veterans, Civil War veterans (including graves marked U.S.C.T. for "U.S. Colored Troops") and veterans of all wars since that time.

4. The home of our Florida National Guard, St. Augustine is a small town that deserves a "morale boost" during these trying times, as we emerge from coronavirus lockdown.  

5. During World War II, my father was a morale non-com in the 82nd ABN DIVN, F. Co., 505th P.I.R., with three combat jumps in North Africa, Sicily and Normandy.  My dad would have spoken out in favor of safely putting the flags on honored graves.  (When I was six years old, in 1963, dad bought flags for our entire block, and he and I were photographed with one of the flags for the Camden, N.J. Catholic Star Herald.)

6. On May 16, 2020, I requested expedited FOIA handling of my Request No. 2020-171.

7. VA OIG acknowledged the request this morning.   I await a response from VA OGC tomorrow.

8. Please feel free to call me tomorrow to discuss allowing American flags on graves in our St. Augustine National Cemetery graves for Memorial Day 2020.  

9. It is First Amendment protected activity to place American flags on graves.  Our First Amendment deserves "breathing space."  NAACP v. Button, 371 U.S. 415, 433 (1963); New York Times. v. Sullivan, 3766 U.S. 254 (1974); Gasparinetti v. Kerr, 568 F.2d 311, 314-17 (3d Cir. 1977)(illegal restrictions on policemen’s First Amendment rights); Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc. v. Hepps, 479 U.S. 767, 772, 777 (1986)(O’Connor, J.)(newspaper entitled to breathing space in defamation case); Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46, 52, 56 (1988) (Rehnquist, J.) (magazine parody of TV preacher entitled to breathing space); Keefe v. Ganeakos, 418 F.2d 359, 362 (1st Cir. 1969)(Aldrich, C.J.)(chilling effect on First Amendment of illegal suspension of teacher over Atlantic Monthly article on Vietnam War); Parducci v. Rutland, 316 F.Supp. 352, 355, 357 (M.D. Ala 1970)(Johnson, C.J.)(chilling effect in illegal firing of English teacher over Kurt Vonnegut’s Welcome to the Monkey House).

10. I can understand postponing the annual Memorial Day event, if that is your decision, to protect the health of our elders, including members of the "The Greatest Generation." 

11. But please direct that people be allowed to place flags on all of the graves in our oldest national cemetery, here in this magical place, founded on September 8, 1565.

12.  Please honor my May 16, 2020 expedited E-FOIA Request No. 2020-171.  (below).

Thank you!

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

Box 3084

St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084

904-377-4998

www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

www.edslavin.com

www.staugustgreen.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin
To: Micah.Ketchel@mail.house.gov
Cc: VACAFOIAService@va.gov ; vaoigfoia-pa@va.gov
Sent: Mon, May 18, 2020 11:07 am
Subject: Fwd: Memorial Day Flags on Graves at St. Augustine National Cemetery -- APA Status Inquiry on my E-FOIA request

Dear Mr. Ketchel and Rep. Waltz:
1. Thank you both for looking into this today.

2. VA should not be telling Boy Scouts that they can't place flags on graves on  Memorial Day.  It is First Amendment protected activity that brings our community together.

3. Please make an APA status inquiry on my expedited FOIA request (below) and see if we can identify the decisionmaker with VA in D.C.

Thank you!

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

904-377-4998

www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

www.edslavin.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin
To: 
Sent: Sat, May 16, 2020 10:38 am
Subject: Memorial Day Flags on Graves at St. Augustine National Cemetery -- APA Status Inquiry on my E-FOIA request

Dear Mr. Ketchel:

1. I saw and heard Rep. Michael Waltz speak eloquently at St. Augustine Beach on Veterans Day 2019.  Rep. Waltz spoke of parachuting into Normandy in 2019, something my father did at 1 AM on June 6, 1944 with the 82nd ABN DIVN, F. Co. 505th P.I.R.

2. Would you and Rep. Waltz please inquire as to the status of my May 16, 2020 E-FOIA request to VA, with request for expedited treatment and fee waiver?

3. I hope that you both agree that it is First Amendment protected activity to place flags on graves at a National Cemetery on Memorial Day, with masks and social distancing.

4. Would y'all please help me to obtain all of the pertinent documents on VA decisions re: Memorial Day 2020 at St. Augustine National Cemetery?

5. Have local Boy Scouts been forbidden to place flags, even with masks and social distancing?

6. Please help me obtain all VA and VA OIG documents on this action by close of business on Monday, May 18, 2020.

7. Please call me to discuss.
Thank you.

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

904-377-4998

www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

www.edslavin.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin
To: VACOFOIAService@va.gov ; vaoigfoia-pa@va.gov
Sent: Sat, May 16, 2020 10:25 am
Subject: Request No. 2020-171: URGENT: Memorial Day 2020 Flags on graves at St. Augustine National Cemetery

Good morning:
A. Would you please be so kind as to send me the VA and VA OIG records on any orders given forbidding Boy Scouts in St. Augustine, Florida to place flags on graves on Memorial Day in St. Augustine National Cemetery?"? If none exist, please so state.

B

1. In the event that there are other requests for this information, please expedite the release to me by PDF of all documents already released to others. 

2. Please waive any fees, as the release of this information is in the public interest and I meet the six factor FOIA test.  This request is urgent and time-sensitive, as the subject is a former government employee who is now a candidate in 2020 municipal elections. Please expedite your response: St. Augustine residents have a Right to Know about violations of Boy Scouts' rights to put flags on graves on Memorial Day with masks and social distancing.

3. I am an investigative reporter with some 40 years of experience in informing the public, including winning declassification of the largest mercury pollution event in world history (Oak Ridge, Tenn. Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Plant, DOE/Union Carbide, 1983) and uncovering the City of St. Augustine's illegal dumping of a landfill in a lake and sequelae (2005-2010).  I can share copies of articles published in several American Bar Association publications, including Judges' Journal.

4. Release of the requested information will help promote the public interest in understanding federal government operations here in St. Augustine, Florida.

5. My blog has received more than 3.7 million measured page views and helps inform people about governmental affairs.  We've had more than 75 public interest victories here since 2005, in a county the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once called "the most lawless city in America."    

6. Addressing the six federal FOIA factors:

Factor 1. The subject of the request: The subject of the requested records concerns "the operations or activities of the government." .

Factor 2. The informative value of the information to be disclosed: The disclosure is "likely to contribute" to an understanding of government operations or activities. 

Factor 3. The contribution to an understanding of the subject by the public is likely to result from disclosure: Disclosure of the requested information will contribute to "public understanding." The disclosure will contribute to the understanding of a reasonably broad audience of persons interested in the subject. I have developed expertise in pertinent subject areas and the ability and intention to convey information to the public. (It is presumed that a representative of the news media will satisfy this consideration.)

Factor 4. The significance of the contribution to public understanding: The disclosure is likely to contribute "significantly" to public understanding of government operations or activities."   

Factor 5. The existence and magnitude of a commercial interest:   No commercial interest. 

Factor 6. The primary interest in disclosure:  There is no "commercial interest."  FOI officers know that when a "news media requester has satisfied the public interest standard, the public interest will be the interest primarily served by disclosure to that requester."

7. Please call me if you have any questions. 

8. Please use my Request No. 2020-171 in the title of all correspondence.

Thank you.

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

904-377-4998

www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

www.edslavin.com