GAINESVILLE – “Old Joe” was brought before the Hall County Commission at their work session Tuesday afternoon; not literally, but in petition.
Kathy Anderson of Gainesville spoke during the Public Comment portion of the meeting and asked that the statue of the Confederate soldier that centers the Gainesville Square be removed.
That 108-year-old effigy was the subject of much discussion this weekend as more than 200 people gathered on the square to express their opinions, both for and against monuments to the CSA.
“Today I want to appeal to your sense of decency and honor to do all that you can to remove the Confederate monument from the center of Gainesville Square,” Anderson told commissioners.
“I realize that you need to try to renegotiate, or simply break, the unfortunate lease that Hall County renewed with the United Daughters of the Confederacy,” she continued.
Erected in 1909 by the Longstreet Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the 99-year lease with Hall County, owners of the land beneath the statue, expired in 2008. The lease was subsequently extended for an additional 25-year term.
But simply removing the statue is not so simple according to Hall County officials. There are legal implications.
“We do have a lease arrangement…that was completed in 2008,” County Administrator Randy Knighton said. “The latest iteration of it…runs through 2033.”
“The 238-square feet in the center of the square is actually owned by Hall County,” Knighton added. That piece of real estate once served as the site of the Hall County Courthouse.
“For Hall County to exalt the Confederacy in the heart of Gainesville is to show the world that Hall County still reveres a racist narrative,” Anderson said.
“How can we exalt services to a traitorous group of people?” Anderson added. “Let’s set a new course and remove this monument that has absolutely nothing to glorify.”
The commissioners did not make comment on Anderson’s request. Knighton was only able to verify that the land beneath the statue was county property and that a valid lease agreement was currently in effect until 2033.
Gainesville City Manager Bryan Lackey, who happened to be in the Hall County Government Center as the commission meeting adjourned, declined to comment when he was asked if he could add anything to what Knighton had said.
A NEW TRAFFIC LIGHT ON ATLANTA HIGHWAY?
Hall County commissioners plan to approve a Traffic Signal Warrant Study for the busy intersection of Atlanta Highway/SR13 at 1st Street/Chicopee Mill Road at their voting meeting on Thursday.
Public Works Director Ken Rearden said Hall County’s on-call traffic engineering firm of Wilburn Engineering will conduct the study, and that the study will be similar to the one they did at the main entrance into Cresswinds on Browns Bridge Road last year.
Hall County and the City of Gainesville will share the cost of the study.
Rearden said that part of the study would include accessing traffic volumes at the two intersections nearest the 1st Street/Chicopee Mill Road intersection: SR13 and 2nd Street/B Avenue to the north, and SR13 and 1st Street/G Avenue to the south.
Under consideration would be closing the two above-mentioned access points onto Atlanta Highway if the traffic light is approved.
