Monument Moving 07-06-20

A divided lowndes county board of supervisors agrees on a big move.

A divided lowndes county board of supervisors agrees on a ábigá move.

Thank you for joining us..

With one voice, supervisors voted to move the confederate monument from in front of the courthouse.

You may recall....district 5 supervisor leroy brooks made a motion last month to have the statue removed... that motion failed in a 3-2 vote..... after that vote then board president harry sanders was recorded making racist remarks to a newspaper reporter.

Today sanders was one of the three supervisors to change his vote on the matter.....making the monument's move from the courthouse lawn a unanimous vote..

For more than 100 years this confederate monument has been standing tall outside the lowndes county courthouse... that's about to change.

The board of supervisors have unanimously agreed to relocate it to friendship cemetery.

"the winds of changes are blowing in mississippi."

" one small step for man makes it an even giant step for mankind, i'm happy it's gone.

"we look forward to the monument being in a more suitable place."

District 2 representative trip hairston was the first to address relocating the monument during monday's meeting....... a decision he's now in favor of.

However, that wasn't the case last month when the issue was first brought up.

" i voted as you all know, i voted against moving the monument.

Since that time i've heard from a lot of my constituents in district 2, a vast majority of them said they think it is appropriate that we move the monument to a more suitable location in friendship cemetery."

Monday's vote is just the first step in the process.

The county has to get clearance from the state department of archives and history to have the statue relocated.....then they city must deed the county a piece of property at friendship cemetery for the statue, and lastly the county has to get bids to have the monument moved.

Columbus city leaders have already agreed to help the county with the relocation... .

"it's the city's land, and thank you to whoever you are, the generous donor, for donating their land at friendship cemetery, but from the city's perspective we're going to split the bill with the county as well as help them get it moved down to friendship cemetery."

" i wouldn't be surprised if it takes as long as 60 to 90 days, hopefully not that long but you certainly want to give yourself time."

District 5 supervisor leroy brooks has been pleading to have the monument removed for weeks now.

While he's happy with the board's decision, he says the monument isn't the only thing that needs to go.

"the issue at hand is that harry sanders needs to resign for the good of this community."

During tomorrow's columbus city council meeting, the board will discuss deeding the county land and helping with relocation costs.

Once today's meeting ended, a crowd gathered outside the courthouse again calling for the resignation of harry sanders.

Sanders only spoke once during the meeting, that was to second a motion that was made by a fellow board member.

Sanders declined to give any comments after today's meeting.

Reporting live in lowndes county.

Quentin smith.

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