One member of the Monument Relocation Committee brought surprising news to their Wednesday meeting, revealing that the United Daughters of the Confederacy had a deed pertaining to the Confederate statue and was positioned to sue Daviess County Fiscal Court over ownership rights.
The news came from committee member Anne Damron, who said she’d spoken to several members of the UDC, including its previous president.
“They have a deed. They own the statue. They are prepared to sue,” Damron said. “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.”
The committee planned to narrow down the community-proposed sites during the meeting, but instead elongated the timeline for public comments by two weeks so they could hear directly from the UDC.
When committee chair Aloma Dew asked what the UDC’s five proposed relocation sites were, Damron said they didn’t tell her and that she didn’t ask.
“If they want to sue, that’s fine because there is a precedent for those kinds of suits and they won’t win, but that’s certainly their right,” Dew said, adding that she wished the UDC had shared their ideas with the Monument Relocation Committee so that they could discuss them.
The rest of the committee expressed the same feeling, with Kenny Barr suggesting to extend the timeline two weeks.
“We very well may be doing the County a favor if we back this up two weeks, if [the UDC] is as serious about this as Anne reported,” Barr said. “I think that’s extremely important … We have six months. I know we don’t want to take [the whole six months], but there’s no sense in rushing this through if there’s more information from the Daughters … maybe this could give the Daughters a chance to get on board with us and join a common cause with us.
Committee members had reached out to some of the suggested relocation sites before reporting their findings on Wednesday.
Though Elmwood Cemetery had been a highly suggested spot in the public comments, Tim Kline reported that the cemetery wasn’t interested in housing the statue.
“They have no legal interest in getting involved with this, so I think Elmwood is probably out of the picture,” he said.
Meanwhile, Wesley Acton said officials with the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art expressed gratitude in being considered, but that the museum didn’t have the space for the monument.
Dew said the Owensboro Museum of Science and History had expressed genuine interest in housing the statue — however, she made it clear that the base would have to be removed from the monument if it were to be placed in a museum of any kind.
Damron said when she spoke to the Daughters of the Confederacy, “they were totally opposed to separating the statue and the base.”
Having received 50 public comments in total, Dew said she had seen an increasing number of suggestions pointing to the Battle of Panther Creek site. However, committee members expressed concern about vandalism in moving the statue to such an open spot.
Four out of five committee members said they were OK with the statue being moved to the Museum of Science and History, but a narrowed-down list wasn’t voted on during Wednesday’s meeting.
The committee approved extending the timeline for receiving public comments to Nov. 9. The next meeting will take place on Nov. 11, while the final meeting will be held either Nov. 18 or Dec. 2.
