CONFEDERATE STATUE

The Confederate monument at Hanover Square was removed Tuesday.

A Jacksonville City Counil member along with the chairman of the Jax Chamber are calling for the city council to postpone an upcoming vote to remove a Confederate moment that is still standing in a Springfield park.

Bad weather didn’t stop a protest in front of City Hall Friday morning by members of Take 'Em Down Jax who are upset about a Confederate moment still standing in a Springfield park. That statue is likely to remain in place despite legislation introduced by Mayor Lenny Curry to have it removed.

Three members of the Jacksonville City Council say they support the removing of the Confederate monument at Springfield Park, which it was recently revealed could cost more than $1 million to do.

Lawmakers later decided to use a statue of educator and civil-rights leader Mary McLeod Bethune to represent the state. On July 7, Lake County commissioners reversed support they had given a year earlier to the Lake County Historical Society and Museum to house the Smith statute in the historic courthouse in Tavares. County commissioners said the anticipated arrival of the Smith statue in Lake County created divisions. The board argued that when Smith was born, Lake County was part of St. Johns County, which includes St. Augustine. The Smith statue has served as one of Florida’s two representatives in the National Statuary Hall since 1922.

PALATKA, Fla. The Putnam County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved the relocation of the Confederate statue in front of the courthouse in Palatka. The Board of Commissioners also decided to form a citizens committee that will recommend where the statue will be moved to. The county said it will depend on private funding to move the statue. In early June, hundreds of people gathered outside the Putnam County Courthouse for a demonstration against racial inequality. The two young adults who organized the protest said it was time for the Confederate statue in front of the courthouse to be removed because they feel its a symbol of injustice toward African Americans.

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. A statue of Confederate Gen. William Loring that has stood on University of Florida property in downtown St. Augustine since 1920 was removed early Monday morning. Gen. Lorings remains will be re-interred in a cemetery in St. Augustine and will be treated with respect and dignity. Site work for that project is underway, but the monument remains in the plaza surrounded by construction fencing and no trespassing signs. Loring was a North Carolina native but grew up in St. Augustine. When the Civil War erupted, he resigned to join the Confederate army, rising to the rank of general.