Though there was a report Wednesday that the Kentucky Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy owned a deed to Daviess County’s Confederate monument, there has still been no proof presented publicly of the alleged document — and multiple UDC members either declined to comment or could not be reached Thursday.
During the Monument Relocation Committee’s Wednesday meeting, member Anne Damron revealed that the Kentucky Division of UDC claimed they had a deed pertaining to the Confederate monument, and that they were prepared to sue Daviess County Fiscal Court over ownership.
“They have a deed. They own the statue. They are prepared to sue,” Damron said Wednesday. “They already have two lawyers. They have about five locations where they’d like to move it, so that’s what they’re going to do. I think if they don’t like the place that’s chosen, they’re going to step in and do it.”
Damron said she didn’t ask what those five locations were.
As of Thursday, County Attorney Claud Porter said the UDC had not approached Fiscal Court with a deed of any kind, nor a legal document threatening a lawsuit.
“A deed is to real estate, and they don’t have a deed to the courthouse,” Porter said. “If they file a suit against us, we’ll answer it when we get it.”
If the UDC had a deed pertaining to the real estate aspect of the monument, Porter said he wasn’t sure why that deed hadn’t been brought forth before the Wednesday claim.
Furthermore, if the UDC did reveal a deed that claimed ownership of the monument — or in this case, the land upon which it was placed — Porter said it wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that County Commissioners already voted to have the monument removed from the Courthouse lawn.
The monument would be removed and relocated no matter what.
Owensboro Times pursued numerous avenues Thursday attempting to obtain a copy of the alleged deed — or to at least get comments from UDC officials — to no avail.
When asked generally about UDC owning a deed, Kentucky Division Treasurer Theresa Jones referred OT to a pair of books written by Edna Shewcraft Macon — “A History of the John C. Breckinridge Chapter 306 United Daughters of the Confederacy Owensboro, Kentucky” and “Memorials of the Blue and Gray: Commonwealth of Kentucky Civil War Monuments” — which she said contained information about the Confederate monument in Daviess County, specifically.
However, when asked specifically if UDC had a deed pertaining to ownership of the monument, Jones replied, “no comment.” When asked if a copy of the deed could be located, Jones also said, “no comment.”
Jones referred OT to former UDC Kentucky Division president Susan McCrobie, saying McCrobie was the UDC spokesperson for the area. An email to McCrobie was still unanswered at the time of this story’s publication.
A message to the UDC Kentucky Division Facebook page also remained unanswered at the time of publication.
Officials with the Daviess County Public Library said they could not find contact information for the local Mollie Morehead Chapter of UDC.
From the beginning, the Monument Relocation Committee’s resolution — drafted by Daviess County Fiscal Court — has been focused on receiving public input regarding the monument’s relocation, narrowing down a list of feasible sites, and producing an official list of three or fewer recommendations to Daviess County Fiscal Court for the Confederate monument’s relocation.
In hearing that the UDC had a list of potential relocation sites of their own Wednesday, the Relocation Committee voted to extend the timeline for receiving public comments by two weeks. This was done with hopes that the UDC would present their list to the committee, especially if they had an idea that had been overlooked or unheard of thus far.
It was also decided during Wednesday’s meeting that, if no communication came from the UDC, the committee would move forward regardless.
