The Daughters of the Republic of Texas are responding with a polite volley of apologies while saying they want to focus on the future.
After a two-year investigation into the operations of the Alamo, the Texas Attorney General's Office called into question the stewardship of the popular Texan shrine – citing mismanagement, neglect and even criminal misconduct by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
Karen R. Thompson, president general of the group, admits that there were problems with the operations and some fiscal foul-ups, but all that has been corrected. And it’s time to move on.
"We just took major revisions," said Thompson, "and we can always to better and we’re doing that."
For the last 107 years, the DRT has operated and preserved the Alamo at no cost to the state, but that relationship went south when the group tried to copyrite the name "The Alamo." Another complaint in the report said there was confusion over the ownership of historic Texas artifacts: Who owns them? The state? Or the DRT?
"There is no confusion (about ownership) and I don’t know where people got that," said Thompson. "We have always kept Alamo – State things separate."
Thompson said reforms are kicking in at the Alamo, and just like the heroic defenders the Daughters aren’t about to surrender.
"The Daughters have been there and we have no intention of leaving," Thompson said.
