Salisbury, Daughters of Confederacy agree to move statue that has stood more than 100 years

SALISBURY, N.C. — The city of Salisbury and the United Daughters of Confederacy have agreed to move the Confederate statue known as “Fame” to a cemetery.

Last week, city leaders voted to remove the “Fame” statue from West Innes Street in downtown.

The vote took place after more than four hours of heated discussion and public comment. The police chief called it a threat to public safety.

City leaders said they worked with the association to figure out the best plan for the statue and the association agreed to move it.

The mayor said “The expressed desire was to bring closure to this decision so that Fame can be safely removed, stored and relocated as quickly as feasible to its final location at the Old Lutheran Cemetery on North Lee Street, where Confederate generals, named and unknown Confederate soldiers are buried.”

Many in the community argued that it was a painful part of the community and it represented a history of slavery and oppression.

Many others, including some who showed up to lay flowers at the statue, “Fame,” view it as a piece of art and a part of history they want to remember.

Channel 9 learned that a history of safety issues and recent threats to city leaders was the final straw for some. According to the police chief, the threats became so bad that he had to call federal law enforcement officers for help.

Eyewitness News obtained a copy of an affidavit in which Salisbury’s police chief Jerry Stokes says, “The Confederate monument ... constitutes an existing and ongoing threat to public safety and a dangerous condition within the city of Salisbury.”

He cited several incidents like the one two summers ago where someone threw paint on the statue, and just two weeks ago when police said Jeffery Long pulled out a handgun and fired two rounds into the air where people were protesting.

Stokes also spoke about having to put up signs warning people not to have guns in the intersection.

“Our biggest job, most important job is to keep our citizens safe and when people come from outside our area with their own agenda and create this unsafe situation then we’re very concerned,” said Mayor Karen Alexander.

Groups have debated the issue, and while some have asked the City Council to remove the statue, city leaders said they did not have the right to take it down.

[ALSO READ: Salisbury residents concerned about racial tensions after Confederate monument vandalized]

The statue and the land it sits on are owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

The mayor announced the possible agreement with the UDC to move the statue to an old cemetery after recent protests over social injustice and racism.

Vandals splash yellow paint on Confederate monument in downtown Salisbury Vandals splash yellow paint on Confederate monument in downtown Salisbury

City leaders asked the United Daughters of the Confederacy to sign the agreement that the city drafted to relocate the statue, which has stood for more than 100 years.

Because they own the statue, they had to sign the city’s agreement. The city will have to relocate the statue to a local cemetery -- a process that could take up to three months.

If the UDC did not agree, city leaders said they could have removed it anyway because they and police have declared it a public safety issue.

There has been no word on how the removal will cost.

Officials vote to remove Confederate monuments in Asheville

Government officials in North Carolina have voted for a measure that calls for the removal of two Confederate monuments in the city of Asheville.

The Citizen-Times reports that the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to remove a monument to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee as well as another Confederate monument in front of the county courthouse.

The vote follows a separate vote by Asheville city officials to approve a joint resolution calling for the removal of the memorials.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy owns the monuments.

The resolution gives the private organization 90 days after the resolution’s passage to remove the monuments. If not, the city and county will.

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