Business Owners Want Reidsville’s Confederate Statue Rebuilt
FOX8 Staff Writer
September 22, 2011
REIDSVILLE, N.C. (WGHP)—A group of Reidsville business owners has formed a committee in opposition to the city’s decision not to replace a toppled Confederate statue.
City manager Michael Pierce said he received the letter from the Historic Political Action Committee two days ago. It is the first time the city has heard from the committee, Pierce said.
"Nobody had contacted the city, so I was taken aback that people had to form a political action committee to sit down and talk about this," Pierce said.
The statue, which had been in place since 1910, was damaged May 23 when a van missed the traffic circle and plowed into it. The statue was knocked off its pedestal, and the head of the statue broke off.
The business owners said they want the city to replace the statue, which was placed by the Daughters of the Confederacy and sat in a city traffic circle in the middle of a state-owned highway.
After a question of who owned the statue, it was determined in August the statue was owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, who decided it did not want to replace the statue.
"If you have an accident, you’re supposed to fix it and make it whole. Everyone knows this did not happen. I’m hoping there’s not going to be a legal fight. We’re not at war with the City of Reidsville. We just want the rules followed and the law upheld," said Diane Parnell, a business owner who has joined the committee.
Flowers now stand where the statue once stood. A man dressed in a Confederate military uniform stood in front of the statue site just days after the decision was made not to replace the statue.
Copyright © 2011, WGHP-TV
