Decide after all to let voters decide monument’s fate through a Nov. 2 referendum
by Larry Chowning –
The Middlesex County Board of Supervisors changed course Tuesday, August 3, and voted 3-2 to conduct a referendum to decide the fate of the Confederate monument on the courthouse green.
After Dawn Moore, president of the local chapter of the NAACP requested in July that the monument be removed, supervisors voted 3-2 to remove it.
The state legislature, however, required a public hearing and another vote on the matter before it was to become official. At the July meeting the board also set a public hearing date for September 7. Hartfield representative John Koontz, Saluda District supervisor Pete Mansfield and Harmony Village supervisor Reggie Williams voted in July to remove the monument. Pinetop representative Lud Kimbrough and Jamaica District supervisor Wayne Jessie voted against the motion.
At the Tuesday meeting, Mansfield introduced a motion to hold a referendum to have citizens vote on the fate of the monument. Approval came after several revisions to Manfield’s first motion. His first motion was threefold. He wanted citizens to be able to vote on leaving the monument as is; leave the monument but remove the Civil War verbiage and add language to honor all Middlesex war veterans; or to remove the monument.
After nearly an hour long conversation between board members, Mansfield revised his motion which gave citizens the opportunity to simply vote on removal or to keep the monument. Mansfield, Kimbrough and Jessie voted to hold a referendum, while Koontz and Williams voted no.
The board also voted Tuesday not to hold a public hearing on removing the monument that was scheduled for September 7. The board instructed county attorney Heather Lewis to address procedures necessary to get the referendum on the ballot in November.
There will be more information on the debate Tuesday in the August 12 print edition of the Southside Sentinel.
