The Monument Relocation Committee has chosen a pair of Owensboro’s museums as the new site for the Confederate monument. However, since neither would have the space to house the statue and its base, the committee also approved the Battle at Panther Creek site as a location for the base.
The Committee narrowed their list down to the Owensboro Museum of Science and History and the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art during Wednesday’s meeting.
It marked a milestone for the relocation project after weeks of discussing and analyzing dozens of public comments, a threat of lawsuit over ownership and at times emotional and opposing views from within the committee itself.
“This has been a long, emotional, hard fight. Change is always hard and we’re never going to agree on everything,” said committee chair Aloma Dew. “But our job was to come up with the places we thought it should go. Frankly, I think we’ve spent enough time on it.”
During the previous meeting, Anne Damron revealed that the United Daughters of the Confederacy were prepared to sue Fiscal Court over ownership rights, and that they had their own list of five relocation sites. That prompted the committee to extend the deadline for receiving public comments by two weeks.
On Wednesday, Dew read aloud a letter she’d received from Karen Wallace, the Kentucky division president of the UDC. The letter did not contain proof of ownership, nor a list of suggested sites for relocation.
“Under the bylaws of the Kentucky division of the Daughters of the Confederacy, if a chapter dissolves, any property owned by that chapter becomes the property of the Kentucky division, meaning the monument in question is the property of the Kentucky Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy,” Wallace wrote. “Therefore, the Kentucky division will consider relocating our beautiful monument honoring those soldiers to a suitable location within a reasonable timeframe.”
Dew said Wallace’s letter had been the only “official” information received from the UDC since the committee had been appointed.
“She still did not indicate where she’d like it moved, so I think we can consider that our official notification,” Dew said.
Cindy Lewis, president of Calhoun’s Mollie Morehead chapter, also submitted a letter. Lewis said she had no objection to the statue being relocated to the Owensboro Museum of Science and History as a “teaching tool.”
“I wanted Elmwood — but they would not accept it — or the Owensboro Art Museum [as my first choices],” Lewis wrote.
Dew said she believed moving the statue’s base to the Battle at Panther Creek site would entail less risk for vandalism than if the entire statue was moved to that outdoor space.
“I think you all have worked really hard. Your county is proud of you,” Dew told the group. “You are good citizens to be willing to take the time and effort to do this. I think we’ve been able to talk about these things in a civil manner. The decision now lies with the Fiscal Court.”
The committee will meet again next Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. to discuss and approve the detailed list of recommendations. After that, Dew said she would immediately present the recommendations to Judge-Executive Al Mattingly.
