After a month filled with constant input from the community, members of the Daviess County Fiscal Court provided an explanation of why they unanimously approved a resolution Thursday to remove the Confederate monument from the Courthouse lawn.
Part of the resolution also includes establishing a committee to determine where the statue would be relocated.
Leading up to the vote, Fiscal Court members received countless emails, phone calls, texts, letters and personal conversations.
“We’ve heard from both sides, tremendous volume,” said Commissioner Charlie Castlen. “It’s kind of interesting that something inanimate can generate so much passion in an individual. It’s been an interesting process. For that matter, the next six months as we wait for the committee to make their recommendation will be an interesting process.”
The five-person relocation committee consisting of community members will be established within six weeks to determine where the statue will be relocated. They must make a recommendation on where the monument should go within six months.
Each County Commissioner will appoint one community member to the committee. Judge-Executive Al Mattingly will also appoint one member, as well as the committee chair.
Before he voted, Commission George Wathen gave a lengthy explanation of why he supported the resolution. In summary, he said there were three views held by citizens regarding the statue.
Wathen said one group is those who claim it is simply to honor and remember the fallen members of their family that did not come home from the war. He said the second is a group of citizens that believe the statue represents slavery, pain, suffering, racism and white supremacy.
Wathen said the third group of people never gave the statue much of a thought.
“In fact, even if they knew it was there, they never considered it a good thing or a bad thing,” he said. “To them it was just a historical statue, one of those neat-looking things you see on a courthouse lawn. I can tell you 10 years ago, I was in that group. I never gave that statue a thought. But now, it’s become a huge issue.”
Wathen said there was some truth to all three views. While he knew any decision would leave a large group dissatisfied, Wathen asked everyone to try to understand the reasoning.
“It is a monument to the soldiers who died in a war. It also, to a lot of people, represents many, many negative things like racism, white supremacy. It is a historical statue that has been there 120 years, and I believe it must be preserved (but relocated),” he said. “I implore all of our citizens to look at the other person’s view. Think about what it is that they think. Think about why they think it. Try to put yourself in their shoes. Then as a community we’ll get back to working together.”
Commissioner Mike Koger echoed similar sentiments as Wathen.
“My decision is based on the community response,” he said. “They voted me into this office to represent them. You’re not going to make everybody happy, but based on everything that I’ve read into this, I’m voting yes to have it relocated.”
The monument will not be moved until the committee makes a recommendation that is approved by Fiscal Court as a new location.
Mattingly said the committee may consult with other groups in the community before making a decision on where to locate it. Any committee meetings must be open to the public — even if it is virtually — and will also be subject to open records requests.
A large crowd of citizens split between those in support of the monument’s removal and those wanting to leave it untouched were on scene at the Daviess County Courthouse lawn for the duration of the meeting. Though tensions were high, there were no incidents. (View live feeds of the scenes here.)
Mattingly said though tensions have at times gotten high, citizens have largely kept themselves in check to keep any situation from escalating out of control.
“For the most part, I’m extremely proud of our community,” he said. “I’m proud of the way you conducted yourselves, I’m proud of the way that you respected the other side if you didn’t agree with them, and I’m proud of the way you interfaced with us.”
