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Lexington Mayor Newell Clark (left), accompanied by Lexington City Manager Terra Greene, held a press conference to announce legal action for the removal of Confederate statue on Thursday.
Lexington Mayor Newell Clark (left), accompanied by Lexington City Manager Terra Greene, held a press conference to announce legal action for the removal of Confederate statue on Thursday.
The Dispatch
NDIS, The Dispatch
Lexington officials on Thursday announced their intent to pursue legal action against Davidson County to relocate the town’s Confederate monument.
“Today, I’m announcing that Lexington’s City Council has given direct authority for our city attorney (Stephen Holton) to take legal action to remove and relocate a threat to our city’s safety and welfare,” Lexington Mayor Newell Clark said at City Hall.
Although it wasn’t expressly stated at the news conference who legal action would be directed toward, the mayor and supplementary materials did later confirm legal action would be directed toward Davidson County, the owners of the Main Street property where the statue resides. Throughout the conference, Clark described an almost adversarial exchange, between the city and county, in regards to the removal of the Confederate monument.
"As city officials, we are extremely disappointed that our county has not been willing to come to the table and figure out a solution,” Clark said.
Based on the sequence of events put together by the city, the monument-related exchange between the two governments started with a July 10 letter from the city to the county. The letter expressed the city's concerns with having the monument and detailed the growing situation around the monument.
Days later, the city passed Resolution 01-21, which formally requests Davidson County to relocate the monument.
On July 24, Lexington’s Attorney sent letters to Davidson County and Daughters of the Confederacy. Although the local Daughters of the Confederacy is now defunct, it is believed the statewide chapter has retained ownership of the monument itself.
On Aug. 6 the county formally denied the city’s request to have the statue removed, which prompted Thursday’s news conference.
“The display of a Confederate monument in the heart of our city is antithetical to our values,” Clark said, later adding this was one of the key guiding principles behind the town council’s decision to relocate the monument.
Mayor Clark added that another guiding principle was safety concerns, something which Lexington Police Chief Mark Sink echoed.
"We have made arrests ranging from carrying concealed weapons without a permit, public fighting, disorderly conduct, inciting a riot and communicating threats,” Chief Sink said. “We took all areas and all factors into consideration with that. We had to make a present-day decision and that present-day decision is that we are a 21st Century Community that is welcoming to all citizens."
Other issues with keeping the monument included the impact on local businesses and the additional workload of local police officers.
"We’re averaging 13 officers a night,” Chief Sink said. “As a small agency, that is a huge burden on us.”
As of now, the Lexington Police Department has 62 officers and is approaching 5,000 man-hours.
Although there are tentative plans to meet with the county board, the city started to pursue legal action on Thursday. Clark added, because of the legal proceedings, the town board would have to clear it with the city attorney before meeting with county officials, in regards to the monument issue.
Clark said he hopes community members will come together.
“At first, I had ambivalence against the removal of the statue and thought that we shouldn’t obliterate history by taking them down,” Dr. Lacy Cappell said. “But when those statues become a symbol of hatred, and that is what is happening, it’s time to make a move. I applaud the city council and the mayor for what they have done here in terms of trying to get this statue removed.”
Cappell was outside the press conference, along with a number of other demonstrators, including the head of Davidson County NAACP Gloria Cross.
“From what I understand we have some waiting to do, but I hope it isn’t going to take too long,” Cross said. “We need to go ahead and get started with what is going to take place. If they are going to move it, let’s move it. If not, why not? We need to get some action going, we have waited long enough.”
Clark said that, ultimately, taking steps to remove the statue is the correct thing to do.
“I get asked all the time, ‘When is this going to end? When are you going to stop appeasing them?’ And we know what those citizens mean when they refer to ‘them,’” Clark said. “My answer to that is when is racism going to end.”
