LEXINGTON, N.C. — There have been more than 70 days of protests, a dozen arrests and now a lawsuit as the debate over moving a Confederate monument in Lexington continues.
"The city council has given the city attorney direct authority to take legal action to remove and relocate a threat to our city's safety and welfare," Lexington Mayor Newell Clark said.
In a press conference Thursday, Clark said the city tried all of its options to come to a solution with Davidson County officials since protests began over the monument in June.
The statue is a prominent part of Uptown Lexington but sits in a square owned by the county.
City council members passed a resolution last month requesting County Commissioners relocate the statue. The request was denied last week.
City officials see court action as the only way to determine the monument's future.
"We are asking for a simple relocation of a statue that doesn't stand for our values as a city in the 21st century," Clark said.
Davidson County officials responded with the following statement:
"The Lexington City Council has demanded that Davidson County remove the memorial on the old courthouse square to the Davidson County men who died in the Civil War. The law in North Carolina is clear: a monument or memorial on public property is protected and may not be removed or relocated. There are very limited circumstances that provide for an exception to the prohibition on removal. None of those exceptions apply to the memorial that the City Council seeks to have removed. The justification given by the City Council for removal, that the memorial is a threat to public safety due to recent protests, does not meet any of the limited exceptions provided in the law. Davidson County, through its officials and professional staff, have repeatedly advised the City of the County’s obligation under law to protect all memorials on County property. Davidson County has not yet received a copy of the lawsuit filed by the City Council. Once it is received the Office of the County Attorney will review the lawsuit and file an appropriate response. It is unfortunate that the City Council, particularly in the midst of our community struggling to address challenges created by the pandemic, has chosen to spend staff time and taxpayer dollars to bring this lawsuit."
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