State lawmaker’s Hunley visit ends in tiff

A South Carolina lawmaker’s recent visit to the Hunley may not have gone as planned.

As first reported by political news site Fitsnews last week, Rep. Chip Limehouse arrived at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston with camera crew in tow. But filming was interrupted for Limehouse and his team when they were met by staff at Clemson’s Restoration Institute, which houses the Confederate submarine.

Bryce Donovan, local public information director for the university, confirmed the incident, saying, “He simply showed up unannounced and began shooting footage of the Warren Lasch Conservation Center, and our people came out naturally to ask him what he was doing.”

It’s at this point that the spokesman claims that Limehouse became “defensive and played the ‘do you not know who I am’ card,” adding, “He was condescending to our staff, but they were professional with him. He eventually left.”

Donovan describes the squabble as “a whole bunch about nothing” and says at no point were Limehouse and his crew turned away or accosted.

Limehouse says he was simply trying to film an interview in the center’s parking lot regarding budgetary issues with the S.C. Confederate Relic Room when employees “came pouring out like a hive of bees” to confront him.

He says he offered to erase the tape and relocate, but calls the incident a violation of his First Amendment rights.