Monuments Demopolis Council: Confederate soldier will not return to monument

CMWinkler

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Demopolis Council: Confederate soldier will not return to monument
Posted by Stewart Gwin
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The Confederate Monument downtown Demopolis shown the morning of July 16, 2016. (WAW | Michael Clements)

The Confederate soldier that once topped a monument in downtown Demopolis will not be returned to its former pedestal following a decision made in Thursday’s city council meeting.

The council voted 3-2 to replace the soldier with a 7-foot tall obelisk and expand the monument to honor fallen soldiers from all wars, rather than only the Civil War as it originally stood.

Councilmen Charles Jones Jr., Nathan Hardy, and Harris Nelson voted in favor of the replacement, with Councilmen Bill Meador and Cleveland Cole voting against the proposal. Mayor John Laney abstained.

“With this decision, the soldier will be repaired and preserved as best as possible and placed in the Marengo County Historical and Archives Museum, along with a plaque explaining how the soldier ended up there rather than atop the pedestal downtown,” Laney said.

As reported here, the monument was damaged in the early morning hours of July 16, 2016, when an on-duty police officer crashed into the base, causing the soldier atop the monument to break off just above the ankles.

Since then, the statue has been the subject of many council meetings, drawing public comments from people as far away as Selma.

The council addressed the monument and heard from community members in its Jan. 19 meeting and

More: http://www.westalabamawatchman.com/...federate-soldier-will-not-return-to-monument/
 
I guess worse things coulda happened. Better make my first CW sightseeing trip to Alabama soon before worse things do happen. I'm afraid they will.
 
Sounds like they have a good plan moving forward. At least the statue won't be broken up to fill potholes.
 
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As y'all know I live here in Demopolis and have been to every meeting. The meeting held last month had Pat Godwin with the UDC in attendance. As she stated in the meeting and in a letter to the mayor the monument does not belong to the city but to the UDC as well as the land it sits on which was donated to the UDC in perpetuity in order for them to put the monument. This was the case with the majority of monuments erected by the UDC. She informed the city that the FIRST order was the repairing of property owned by the UDC and damaged by a city employee and even offered to pay the $5000 deductible the city had to pay. Once that was done then they would discuss the moving of the monument to a veterans park etc. I see a lawsuit in the works as this is NOT what was discussed. This has been dragged out for over a year and the owners of the monument have just about had enough.
 
As y'all know I live here in Demopolis and have been to every meeting. The meeting held last month had Pat Godwin with the UDC in attendance. As she stated in the meeting and in a letter to the mayor the monument does not belong to the city but to the UDC as well as the land it sits on which was donated to the UDC in perpetuity in order for them to put the monument.
Thanks for the update.

I'm glad to hear a first hand account from one that has actually attended these meetings.

I've been very interested in this particular incident from the start. It seems the City has absolutely no authority over this statue or the land.

If anything . . . IMHO . . . the City of Demopolis should pay damages to the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

and even offered to pay the $5000 deductible the city had to pay. Once that was done then they would discuss the moving of the monument to a veterans park etc.
Wow.

If that's not an act of good faith on the behalf of the UDC, I don't know what is.
Sounds like a reasonable solution to me.

Please keep us updated.
 
I will. The new mayor is between a rock and the hard place. He listened to the committee he formed and as we all know " A two hump camel was originally a horse designed by a committee.
 
As y'all know I live here in Demopolis and have been to every meeting. The meeting held last month had Pat Godwin with the UDC in attendance. As she stated in the meeting and in a letter to the mayor the monument does not belong to the city but to the UDC as well as the land it sits on which was donated to the UDC in perpetuity in order for them to put the monument. This was the case with the majority of monuments erected by the UDC. She informed the city that the FIRST order was the repairing of property owned by the UDC and damaged by a city employee and even offered to pay the $5000 deductible the city had to pay. Once that was done then they would discuss the moving of the monument to a veterans park etc. I see a lawsuit in the works as this is NOT what was discussed. This has been dragged out for over a year and the owners of the monument have just about had enough.

That does put this matter in a different light. It looks like the city is trying to absolve themselves of responsibility for damages an agent of said city caused. That is not right no matter how you look at it.
 
UPDATE: In a letter to the Mayor of Demopolis, The Alabama Division of the UDC has taken their offer off the table to pay the cities $5000 deductible on the statue. Never under estimate the power of the Ladies :D
 
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