The Chatham County Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 Monday night in favor of removing the Confederate statue in front of the Chatham County courthouse. The results were met with strong approval from some and strong criticism from others.

The decision, which came the night before the one-year anniversary of the Confederate statue Silent Sam being pulled down at UNC, contends the Winnie Davis chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy must have an alternate plan for the statue by October 1. If the statue does not have a planned future by November, the board will declare the monument public trespass and have it removed.

Commissioner Karen Howard spoke to the room just prior to the vote. She expressed her hope that the divided community will eventually find consensus, as well as her concern over the methods of discourse.

“We have listened respectfully and quietly and this [yelling] is not productive,” Howard said. “There’s clearly a lot of work to be done, and I hope that people who are equally minded, [who want] to resolve the difficulties and to come a better place will come together.”

The board had previously discussed alternatives for the statue with president of the Winnie Davis chapter Barbara Pugh, such as altering the statue to be a memorial for all soldiers. Pugh later wrote in an open letter to the board she believed it would be “inappropriate” to change the statue and illegal to move it from its current location.

There is still debate over whether the statue, which has stood in Pittsboro since its dedication in 1907, is privately or publicly owned. Originally dedicated and erected as a gift from the UDC, those arguing the statue should be removed say the county can return it or require it to be relocated. Others, however, contend the statue is a public monument, which means it would be subject to a 2015 state law which bans the removal of “objects of remembrance” from public grounds.

Aaron Keck spoke with Chatham News + Record reporter Zachary Horner about Monday night’s divisive meeting about the Pittsboro Confederate statue:

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