In September 2011, a Georgia Power employee entered the cemetery and removed seven Confederate flags placed on the graves of Confederate veterans. The flags were replaced in October 2011 by the local Sons of Confederate Veterans, but were subsequently removed again by employees of the utility based on a company policy prohibiting the display of "offensive materials" on company property. Members of the church congregation, some of whom had Confederate ancestors buried in the cemetery, protested. Congregation members asserting their property rights to the cemetery, stating that the flags were not placed on company property and that Georgia Power had no right to interfere with the practice. Georgia Power conceded the matter after company attorneys completed a title search in November 2011. Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and descendants of Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery, who had earlier protested the utility's actions, returned to the cemetery to replace the confiscated flags