LOCAL

Removal of Lexington's Confederate statues ultimately up to military personnel, historians

Courier Journal

Lexington Mayor Jim Gray listens ahead of a vote on a proposal to move two Confederate-era statues from downtown Lexington at the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Center in Lexington, Ky., Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017. The council voted 15-0 to pass the resolution. (Alex Slitz/Lexington Herald-Leader via AP)

While Lexington Mayor Jim Gray searches for a new site for two of the city's Confederate monuments, the relocation decision ultimately will come down to a five-person state board made up of military personnel and historians.

The Kentucky Military Heritage Commission — established in 2002 by an act of the Kentucky General Assembly — must approve the move of the John Hunt Morgan and John C. Breckinridge statues from their perches near the site of the former Cheapside slave auction block.

Gray must suggest a new location to the city's council by mid-September, and a proposal must be submitted to the Military Heritage Commission, which will meet again in November, though a date, time and location have not been set. The board typically meets only twice a year.

The removal effort has drawn criticism from white nationalist groups, which promised a demonstration in Kentucky if the proposal were to move forward. Matthew Heimbach, an Indiana native who is the chairman of the Traditionalist Worker Party, said Monday that plans for a rally are still in the works. He did not specify a date or a time.

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Gray's office has said that it will ask the Kentucky Heritage Commission to meet earlier than November to vote on the proposal.

The commission's members are Craig Potts, executive director of the Kentucky Heritage Council; Brig. Gen. Stephen R. Hogan, adjutant general of the Kentucky Department of Military Affairs; Kent Whitworth, executive director of the Kentucky Historical Society; Col. M. Blaine Hedges, executive director of the Kentucky Commission on Military Affairs; and Brig. Gen. Norman Arflack, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs, according to its website. The positions are established under KRS 171.782.1.

This Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017 photo shows the statue of John C. Breckinridge in Lexington, Ky. Lexington Mayor Jim Gray said he will ask the city council to take the first step in removing two Confederate memorials to Confederate officers John C. Breckinridge and John Hunt Morgan. Gov. Matt Bevin says he "absolutely" disagrees with removing Confederate symbols and monuments from government property, calling it the "sanitization of history."

The commission — an independent agency attached to the state's historic preservation office — is in charge of "maintaining a registry of military sites and objects significant to the Commonwealth," said Laura Brooks, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Tourism Arts and Heritage Cabinet. It oversees 27 of the state's 230 total identified war listings, according to its website.

Brooks said that requests for listing are made by the public, and once accepted, the listings can't be removed or significantly altered without the written approval of the commission. Altering the statues without written consent could result in a misdemeanor charge for the first offense and felony charge for the second.

She said she is looking into whether the commission has voted in the past on moving a statue. She said the Morgan and Breckinridge statues have been under the commission's jurisdiction since 2004. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that they were put under the commission's control after a petition was filed about a year earlier.

DeBraun Thomas, of Lexington, Ky., center, with the group Take Back Cheapside, reacts after the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council unanimously voted to move two Confederate-era statues from downtown Lexington at the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Center in Lexington, Ky., Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017. Government leaders in Kentucky's second-largest city took a decisive stand Thursday night in favor of moving two Confederate statues from their prominent places outside a former courthouse being converted into a visitors center. (Alex Slitz/Lexington Herald-Leader via AP)

Last Thursday, the 15-member Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council voted unanimously to relocate the two statues that sit in front of the former Fayette County Courthouse.

The vote followed a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that led to a woman's death as well as dozens of injuries when a car crashed into a crowd of counterprotesters. Two Virginia state troopers who were monitoring the rally also died when their helicopter crashed.

Brooks said the commission has not yet received a relocation proposal, and Kenny Bishop, a spokesman for Gray, said Monday there are no updates in the search for a new location.

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Gray's office said last week that no taxpayer money would be used to move the statues. A group of activists already has raised more than $2,000 through the Lexington-based Blue Grass Community Foundation to help pay for the costs of moving the statues. Two other Lexington businesses, Duncan Machinery Movers and Prometheus Foundry LLC, have offered to take care of the moving and historic preservation of the monuments.

Reporter Thomas Novelly contributed to this article. Southern Indiana Communities Reporter Justin Sayers can be reached by phone at 502-482-4252, email at jsayers@gannett.com or on Twitter at @_JustinSayers.