Last night, the Gaston County Board Commissioners voted 6 to 1 to remove one of the largest confederate monuments in the Charlotte region.
The 35-foot-tall “Gaston County Confederate Heroes Monument” was originally located on South Street in front of the 1911 Gaston county courthouse where it faced northward, and was just recently relocated to the new county court building on Marietta Street after construction in 1998.
The new resolution to remove the monument comes after months of protests and debates on both sides of the isle.
Yesterday, Board chairman Tracy Philbeck and county commissioner Allen Fraley co-sponsored the new resolution that orders the statue to be relocated to private property.
According to the new resolution; “the Gaston County Board of Commissioners intends to pay for and complete the Monument’s relocation and secured re-erection at no cost to the Sons [Sons of the Confederacy]; and, the continued public use of the Monument will benefit citizens of all ages in Gaston County by continuing to serve as a war memorial to the Confederate Veterans, while also serving as an educational tool for the public to learn about the causes for which so many brave young soldiers throughout Gaston County left their families to fight for North Carolina in the War Between the States…”
What do you think about the decision?
