The event titled “The Lincoln Reconsidered Conference” will take place in Richmond March 22 at the John Marshall Hotel. The Web site www.LewRockwell.com, which calls itself “the premier anti-state/pro-market site on the net,” is sponsoring the conference. The fee is $49.

“More than 200 people have already registered to attend, and we’re getting more every day,” says a representative for Ron Holland, editor of the The Dixie Daily News Web site and a scheduled speaker at the conference. “Plus, we expect a lot of walk-ins.”

“I know nothing about it,” says Elizabeth Bennett, sales manager for the John Marshall Hotel. Bennett says the date and arrangements were made before new management came onboard at the hotel. She stresses that the hotel doesn’t “subscribe to any political group,” and says fewer than a dozen rooms have been reserved so far.

The Web site www.southerncaucus.org, which links to the event, is the same site that has collected signatures for a petition against the Lincoln statue. So far, according to the site, more than 3,000 people have signed. The petition, written by Holland, is addressed to the city of Richmond, the National Park Service and the U.S. Historical Society.

Last week an investigation by the National Park Service dismissed accusations of fraud levied against the U.S. Historical Society, which plans to put up the statue.

A source close to the Lincoln statue project says neither the conference nor the petition will have any effect on the statue’s progress. — Brandon