County attorney Clyde Albright has advised the Alamance County Board of Commissioners that, pursuant to state and federal law, Alamance County does not have the legal authority to move the Confederate Veterans Memorial at courthouse square. The monument in Graham is an object of remembrance as defined by North Carolina General Statute 100-2.1, which gives it different legal status than a statue of an individual person or a commemoration of a battle or event. The county manager neglected to obtain information about the legality of his opinion before he offered it.
The drafting and announcement of this open letter is troubling. Very few of the people who participated in this statement (four of the fifty-six) have contacted any one of the five commissioners in the past few months to discuss their concerns about the monument. We have learned that at least some of those whose support for this letter was sought were told, “Don’t tell the commissioners” about the effort to draft it. Mayor Baltutis waited until 9:40 am on Monday, twenty minutes before his press conference was to begin, to inform Chair Galey, which prevented her from being able to attend.
One may ask, why would the authors of this letter not want the commissioners to know that it was being drafted and circulated? Why was it done in secret and then unveiled at a press conference? This would lead an observer to believe that this “call to action” is political in nature. Its true purpose would not appear to be to persuade the commissioners, but to ambush them in as public a manner as possible.
We do not doubt that those who signed the letter are sincere in their beliefs and hope to see the county find a resolution to this difficult challenge. The best way to seek a resolution is not by operating in secret, drawing up in opposing lines, and engaging with the press. Alamance County deserves leaders who are willing to reach out and communicate with one another.