Voters support keeping Confederate statue where it is
Published 11:31 pm Tuesday, November 3, 2020
- The Confederate Soldier statue on the Lunenburg County Courthouse lawn has only been there since 1968. It was moved to the location from Victoria’s Town Square, along with a German Howitzer cannon. A letter calling for the removal of the statue has been sent to the Board of Supervisors. (Photo by Wanda Fix)
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Lunenburg County voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to keep the Confederate soldier monument where it is on the courthouse lawn.
The referendum on the Lunenburg County ballot asked if the monument honoring the memory of the Lunenburg soldiers and women during the Civil War should remain on Lunenburg County Courthouse property. The voters said yes it should by a vote of 4,149 (71.19%) to 1,683 (28.81%)
The referendum is non-binding, but a majority of the Lunenburg County Board of Supervisors have said they would honor the will of the voters.
The question was placed on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors in July after the board received a letter with a request from Rev. Wiley and Carole Wallace that the statue be moved from in front of the courthouse. The request came in wake of Confederate statues being removed or relocated across the country.
Given three options of how to deal with Confederate statues in recent legislation approved by the General Assembly, the board held a public hearing and decided to go the referendum route.