Description
The monument is expected to be relocated to Maple Hill Cemetery at the Confederate cemetery within the city-owned cemetery.
The dismantling of the monument comes months after Confederate monuments were also removed in Birmingham and Mobile. In those cases, the cities removed the monuments without permission and paid the $25,000 fine outlined in the state’s monument law.
The Heritage Protection of North Alabama and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the original donors of the statue, tried to stop the relocation just hours before it was completed, WAAY-TV reported.
One member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy stated in an affidavit that she fears the statue wouldn't be as protected at the cemetery as at its courthouse location, with lights and more public police presence, according to WAAY-TV.