Defenders of controversial Confederate general rise again
Aug. 12, 2012
SELMA — A new monument being built to honor Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest is stirring up controversy in Selma.
Todd Kiscaden of the group Friends of Forrest said the group decided to make improvements to the monument in the city’s Live Oak Cemetery after a bust of Forrest disappeared from the monument in March.
But state Sen. Hank Sanders, a Democrat from Selma, said Forrest was one of the founders and the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, and he wants construction stopped.
Kiscaden, however, claims Forrest was a Confederate hero who led the efforts to defend Selma against Union troops during the Civil War and should be honored.
The theft of the bust earlier this year wasn’t the first time the monument has been damaged. Just a couple months after it was dedicated in October 2000, vandals dumped garbage on and around the site.
No one has been arrested in the March theft, even though a $20,000 reward was offered for information leading to the apprehension of the culprits.
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