DATE: Tuesday, February 25, 1997            TAG: 9702250255

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   38 lines

OPPOSITION VOICED AFTER VOTE ON TENDING CONFEDERATE GRAVES

If the state is paying for the upkeep of the graves of the Confederate dead, then it ought to pay for maintaining the graves of slaves and blacks who died during the Civil War, black legislators say.

``If we're going to preserve that era - whatever the rationale - it ought to extend across the board,'' said Del. A. Donald McEachin, D-Richmond.

Last week, the General Assembly voted to extend the Confederate memorial program, which now covers some 10,000 graves, by 564 more to include graves in Chesapeake, Lexington, Lunenberg County and Salem.

The upkeep is coordinated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a national group based in Richmond that was paid $47,300 last year to maintain the graves. Some of the work was done by other private groups, who were paid by the United Daughters.

``Most of the men buried here were not wealthy people. Most of them didn't own the slaves that everyone's accused of owning,'' said Dixie L. Woods, president of the Southern Cross chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy. ``They were just simple soldiers who answered the call to defend their state from northern aggressors.''

On Memorial Day in Salem, the chapter lays 300 rebel flags in the cemetery as a flute and bagpipe play.

Opponents of the plan say such upkeep should been done by private groups and families with private funds.

Del. William P. Robinson Jr., D-Norfolk, denounced the tradition as ``a throwback to the days of segregation.''

But he and other black lawmakers kept their concerns to themselves during the votes. They abstained or voted ``no,'' and the bills passed overwhelmingly and with no debate. KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY

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