Suggestion to ban placing new memorials on public property goes nowhere

Commissioner Priscilla Whisenant Trace wasn’t expecting the agenda item to go anywhere, but she put on the table an ordinance on an issue that had plagued Manatee County before hurricane madness.

Trace suggested divising an ordinance “to ban the placement of new memorials and monuments, including names of individuals, on public property,” as the agenda read. She said she didn’t like “that we can’t have differences and we can’t tolerate people.”

It did not get a second.

The Confederate statue that stood outside the Manatee County Historic Courthouse since 1924 had been the subject of a protest last month. Those in favor of taking it down thought it was inappropriate to have a memorial bearing the names Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee in marble outside of a place of justice. Those who wanted to keep the statue in place said they wanted to honor veterans and didn’t want to erase history.

Manatee County commissioners voted 6-1 on Aug. 18 to cover the 22-foot marble statue with plywood ahead of a protest planned for three days later. One day after the protest, the commission cast a nearly split vote 4-3 to remove the statue. Overnight the following day, the statue was broken while moving it into storage. The next week, a coalition formed urging commissioners to reinstate the statue.

Commission Chairwoman Betsy Benac and Trace said they had no intention of reversing her votes.

“I would never want to change any names of any streets,” she added, addressing Trace’s discussion.

Benac added that she got a lot of heat from bringing up the Confederate statue issue at the commission meetings.

“I thought I did what was best for this community,” she said.

The two public commenters present for the end of the meeting didn’t see it that way.

“What you did was just wrong,” said Andrea Courtney. “You did not give us enough time to speak our opinions and get heard.”

A public meeting to discuss where the statue should be placed has not been set.

This story was originally published September 18, 2017 at 6:29 PM with the headline "Suggestion to ban placing new memorials on public property goes nowhere."