Residents speak out about removal of Confederate monument

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - It’s been almost a full year since the Pitt County Confederate monument was taken down from the courthouse lawn and it still has yet to be relocated.

So, a group of people attended the Pitt County Commissioners meeting Monday night to rally against the removal of the monument, saying it shouldn’t have been taken down, to begin with.

This was the first face-to-face Pitt County Commissioners meeting since the pandemic started and even though at the last meeting, commissioners said action was set to be taken July 19th involving the monument, it wasn’t even on the agenda.

Commissioners were supposed to transfer the monument to the Sons of the Confederate Veterans Incorporated but more paperwork still needs to be done.

One resident at the meeting Monday said commissioners violated North Carolina law by taking the monument down while another said the monument was never about racism.

Commissioner Tom Coulson made a comment at the end of the meeting saying he wants to squash any rumors that there are, in regards to the project not moving forward and putting the monument back up.

He said a new lease agreement is being presented to the property owner, Ephraim Smith, and will be presented to him within the next couple of days.

Commissioners unanimously voted back in February to donate the Confederate statue and it is set to be relocated to private property on NC-43 South, in the southern part of Pitt County, on former County Commissioner Ephraim Smith’s property.

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