County employees whittle away the Confederate statue’s remaining foundation

On a muggy Friday morning, property management employees began working to remove the remaining foundation where the Confederate statue once stood outside of the historic courthouse.

Concrete and rebar were all that was left after the 22-foot obelisk marble statue was removed around 3:30 a.m. Thursday, during which the top spire fell and split in two.

Manatee County commissioners voted 4-3 Tuesday to place the statue — which bore the names of Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee — in storage until a permanent location could be determined. The move cost the county $12,700.

Public safety was cited as one of the reasons for the vote, as protests for and against the statue’s removal had taken over downtown Bradenton Monday evening and more had been planned for the following weeks. Since Aug. 19, the statue had been shrouded in plywood to protect it from any damage it could have faced during the protests.

Carmine DeMilio, parks operating manager for the department, said that once the foundation is removed, coontie ferns would be planted in its place. The native plant already exists on the historic courthouse grounds. According to the University of Florida’s IFAS extension, the coontie attracts the Atala butterfly, a rare species that is black with striking blue and red features.

“You won’t know that anything was here,” he said.

This story was originally published August 25, 2017 at 10:38 AM with the headline "County employees whittle away the Confederate statue’s remaining foundation."