He added: "If the ladies need a friend in this fracas they should call me."

"This is typical of the "institutional bias" against Confederate Southern-Americans that we witness everyday in the government schools," said  SLRC Executive Director Dr. Neill H. Payne.

Confederate activist and SLRC Chairman of the Board of Advisors H.K.  Edgerton is considering a trip to Greensboro to teach Ms. Harrison a  thing or two about Confederate heritage. " I stand with the noble ladies of the UDC."  he said.

The Southern Legal Resource Center, Inc. is a non-profit, tax exempt  South Carolina Public Law Firm that specializes Southern Heritage  violations and advocacy on behalf of Confederate Southern-Americans.

GREENSBORO - Aycock Middle School has told the Guilford United  Daughters of the Confederacy that the chapter's annual essay contest is no longer welcomed at the school.

Aycock history teacher Jean Botzis, in a letter to chapter President  Margaret Carver, said that after an Aycock student won local and state  UDC essay contests last spring, "I have come to understand more fully  the philosophy and goals of the UDC and found them to be against the  basic goals of Aycock Middle School."

Botzis, who sent a copy of her Aug. 23 letter to the News & Record,  requested that the student's name, "as well as those of any other  Aycock students, not be entered in any contests or published in  affiliation with the UDC."

A call to Botzis was returned Tuesday by Aycock principal Melissa Harrelson.  The principal said this is a private matter between the school, the student's family and the UDC and should not be made public.  She says Botzis sent a copy of the letter to the newspaper so the News & Record would know not to publish any UDC press releases with names of Aycock students.

Asked what about the UDC's philosophy Aycock School finds offensive, Harrelson said: "It's a modern day version of the Ku Klux Klan."

Ellen Bissell, who has served as president of both the UDC's North Carolina  division and the Guilford chapter, called Harrelson's comments about the UDC "an absolute lie."

According to the UDC's Web site, the goals of the 20,000-member organization are "educational, benevolent, memorial and patriotic."  The membership is open to women "who are blood descendants ... of men  and women who served honorably in the Army, Navy or Civil Service of > the Confederate States of America or gave material aid to the cause."

The Guilford UDC chapter's annual historical essay and art contest is  open to students throughout the county. Winners are forwarded to  divisional and statewide competitions.

Later Tuesday, Harrelson modified her comments. She said the UDC  contest ban applies only to the current competition.  She says her remarks about the UDC being connected to the Klan are based on  information given her by a parent of the essay-winning student.  She declined  to disclose the nature of that information or to reveal the parents' name.  She said she would meet with UDC leaders before deciding about future essay contests.

Carver, the UDC chapter president, said she's "absolutely dumbfounded" by Botzis' letter.  She said as best she can determine the student's  parents have not returned the prize money or certificates won in the  essay contest.

The student wrote on Robert E. Lee, the South's top general during the Civil War.  Carver also said she can't recall Botzis, Harrelson or the student's parents ever calling the UDC to ask about the organization's philosophy.

Although the organization's membership is overwhelmingly white, it  does have  some black members.  A black historian, who had two white great-uncles who fought for the Confederacy, joined a Virginia chapter earlier this year.

Bissell said past UDC essay winners in Guilford have come from all  races and nationalities, including a black student who won last year.  The UDC also co-sponsors with several organizations, including the Charlotte Hawkins Brown State Historic Site, which honors a black educator, the regional high school History Bowl competition Bissell said she wonders why the student's parents allowed her to accept the prizes at the local and state level without objecting, until now.

Guilford schools Superintendent Terry Grier said as far as he is concerned,  Botzis was simply responding to a complaint by a parent, who researched the UDC after the competition had ended and became concerned.

"Whether the parent was right or wrong" about the UDC, Grier said,  "that's his opinion."

Grier said the schools try to offer "options" to parents when they object to a book or offering in the schools.

As for the statement in the letter that all Aycock students are barred from UDC competition, Grier said decisions about what contests a school enters are left to the school's leadership.

Founded in 1894 and with headquarters in Richmond, the old capital of  the Confederacy, the UDC's Web site states it seeks "to honor the  memory" of those who served and died for the Confederacy; to  memorialize historic sites  of the Confederacy; and to collect and preserve material "for a  truthful history of the War Between the States."

The UDC says it also seeks to document the role of Southern women  "during the struggle," and their "untiring efforts after the war" in reconstructing the South.

Since the Civil War, the UDC's Web site says, the organization has  come "to the aid of the nation in times of crisis," citing civic service during World War I, World War II and the Korean, Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars.  The organization also sponsors scholarships and awards to outstanding students at the nation's service academies and other schools.

The Guilford UDC chapter, which numbers 105 members, was founded in 1899.  The UDC is not related to the male-only Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Contact Jim Schlosser at 373-7081 or jschlosser@news-record.com

The SLRC is non-profit, tax exempt, South Carolina public law firm that specializes in cases involving Southern Heritage violations.

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