Commissioners say Confederate statue should stay at courthouse

Feedback suggests most want it where it is, they say.

The Confederate Civil War statue on the south side of the Williamson County Courthouse has been where it’s at since 1916 — and it’s probably going to stay there a while longer.

When asked Sept. 29, County Judge Dan Gattis and the four commissioners each said they favor leaving the statue where it is and not moving it to a museum or cemetery, as has been proposed by a Georgetown church group.

With a petition stating the statue could be seen as “an ugly reminder of the institution of slavery,” Unitarian Universalist Fellowship has collected more than 250 petition signatures asking for the statue to be moved.

On Sept. 29, commissioners said they’ve received varying amounts of feedback — some a lot and others little. But all said most of the constituents who’ve contacted them do not want the statue, erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, to be relocated.

No Commissioners Court vote on the issue is scheduled, because no action is needed to maintain the status quo, County Judge Dan Gattis said. “I’d vote to leave it where it is,” he said.

“More people have called me to say keep it (as is),” he said, adding that could at least partially be a function of the circles he travels in.

“I’ve gotten three or four emails on this, all of them in favor of keeping it,” Precinct 1 Commissioner Lisa Birkman of Brushy Creek said. “I respect everyone’s opinion. I really do. But so far the people that have contacted me have been in favor of keeping it.”

Birkman went on to say she favors erecting a statue of the late Williamson County District Attorney Dan Moody on the courthouse lawn.

The Williamson Museum is leading the effort to honor Moody, who in 1924 obtained assault convictions against four Ku Klux Klan members for a 1923 attack on a traveling salesman.

The statue would be on the east side of the courthouse, near an historical marker commemorating those 1923-24 Klan trials.

Pct. 2 Commissioner Cynthia Long of Cedar Park said she favors keeping the statue where it is, but would consider adding a plaque noting that Williamson County went against most of the rest of Texas in voting against secession from the United States.

“The majority of the input I’ve gotten says leave it,” Long said “It is part of our history. We have people from our county that fought on both sides of that war. We can’t erase history we don’t like.”

Those who want the statue moved and those who want it to stay at the courthouse each have online petitions forms at change.org.

As of Monday, 256 people have requested the statue be moved and 1,596 want it to stay, according to numbers posted at change.org.

Each group has petition signers from Williamson County as well as other Texas locales like Killeen, Corpus Christi and Houston.