Pittsboro, NC – During the public input portion of the July meeting of the Chatham County board of commissioners, several people expressed their feelings about the confederate statue locatedin front of the historic courthouse in Pittsboro.
Here are their comments –
Robert Butler submitted the following comments:
I stand in support of the Confederate Memorial Statue. That statue outside has stood for the last 112 years or so with little or no opposition. That statue stands as a memorial to the many men and young boys, some as young as 12 and 14 years old, that lost their lives and still lay in unmarked graves and never got to come home to a decent burial. My sentiments are the same as many, the opposition comes as a modern day rebellion from people not from the South and from outside our state, prime example being you, our Commissioners. Four of you were not born in Chatham County or even North Carolina.The War of Northern Aggression gave the people of the South no choice but to fight or be killed. If you chose not to fight then you were shot for treason. Many and most fought to save their families and farms from the onslaught of the Union Army which was under orders to burn, kill, devastate, and ravage the South. Many women and young girls were brutally raped and murdered by the fine Union Army. So you want to remove a statue of honorable men that stood to protect their families and property. I say not.I thought you commissioners were to represent the people of Chatham County but it’s pretty evident that is not the case. Mr. Dasher, your tweet and support of Maya Little is really appalling and a slap in the face to the people of Chatham County. Mr. Crawford, your meltdown at the last meeting was at the least very unprofessional and uncalled for. You were elected to represent the people of this county and not your self interests or associated groups, or pandering yourselves to anarchists, as you have done. We, the people of Chatham County, are tired of your partisan politics. Your arrogance and the audacity to use your political position to try to change 150 years of history is beyond reprehensible.You cannot and will not erase history, no matter how hard you try. Leave the statue alone and concentrate on issues more pertinent to the tax paying citizens of Chatham County. Thank you for your time and consideration because we will not stand idly by and watch our Southern history be destroyed.
Mike Pool submitted the following comments:
I am a twenty-two year resident of Chatham County. I speak in favor of the Confederate memorial staying where it is. I have a question and I realize you don’t take questions but it is something I would like addressed at a future meeting, or possibly this meeting. At one of the first meetings we had about the monument at the Ag Center, you passed a resolution asking the lawyer to give what the legal options are for this monument. To my knowledge, those options have never been made public. Could the commissioners please make that information public to the residents of Chatham County. Thank you.
Howard Fifer submitted the following comments:
My name is Howard Fifer. I am a resident of Chatham County and a member of Chatham for All. Last month you announced that the majority of the Board found the position set forth by community members at the April Board meeting, which was held at the Ag Center, to be persuasive and are of the opinion that that the Countyis within its rights to return the Confederate monument to the UDC. You opted, in the first instance, to try to work with the UDC, as people of goodwill, to find a path forward to, in your words, “modify and rededicate” the monument, and accordingly you entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the owners of the monument.In the ensuing month, no information on this process has been forthcoming from either side. It would be more than just appropriate for you to take some time this evening and let all of your constituents know, to put it succinctly, what is going on? Have the negotiations commenced and are they proceeding with both parties demonstrating good faith, good will and an interest in working together? What are the opening positions of both sides, and what compromises have been made or requested by each side in an effort to, again in your words, “reimagine” the monument? What is the timeline for concluding the negotiations and removing the confederate monument from the heart of our community?Please demonstrate that our faith in our elected officials is fully warranted, and that when you announce your intentions it is because you intend to do something and in a timely manner. Thank you for listening.
Patti Justice submitted the following comments:
I was born, and have lived in Chatham County for 67 years. I am here in favor of keeping the monument where it stands, as it appears, at the Historic Courthouse. Also, it is an antique, it is art and it gives a charm to the Pittsboro community. In these 67 years, I have never once thought of the monument as a racist issue to slavery. I have thought of it as it is, a monument for those who fought in the Civil War. I am not a racist person and I am sick of being called racist by the activists that have seeped into our county and those from outside of the county.
One of those people that never came home was my great great grandfather, Private Haywood Marshall Craven who died on Sept. 17th, 1862 at the age of 24 years old 5th North Carolina Regiment under command of Major General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Major General Daniel Harvey Hill, and Colonel Duncan K. McRae. He was killed near Bloody Lane, Battle of Antietam, Sharpsburg Maryland, his body never returned home. I declare this monument in his memory and his honor and I want it to stay where it stands and is it appears, at the historic Courthouse in honor of my great great grandfather Pvt. Haywood Marshall Craven. His blood runs through my veins, my son’s veins and my granddaughter’s veins. May you rest in peace grandfather!