WAAY 31's Sydney Martin was at Maple Hill Cemetery with exactly how the monument got to its new home.
Today.
New this evening - we're hearing from the madison county commision chairman for the first time since the confederate monument was relocated!
Even though the monument was in downtown huntsville - it was sitting on county property, leaving the decision to move it up to the county commission.
Today - chairman dale strong told us the move from outside the courthouse was done by the book.
Waay 31's sydney martin is live tonight at maple hill cemetery with exactly how the monument got to its new home.
Dan - even though the process took longer than many hoped, chairman dale strong told me it does work.
He says the commission followed every step before moving the monument here to maple hill cemetary.
Strong explained the county commission first requested a wavier of the state's "memorial preservation act" from the alabama historical commission.
That would allow them to legally move the monument from the courthouse grounds to the cemetery.
Strong said when the committee did not respond after 90 days - the county commission worked with the huntsville mayor and city council to plan the move.
He said the decision to move the monument, took a great deal of consideration and they listened to both sides before unamiously deciding that relocating it was the right move.
"we feel this would be a part of preserving the history, some of that may be painful, but our thing is, you can change the future, but you can't change the past.
Our situation is we have listened to the people and made the best decision that we could."
Today, strong told me although they believe they followed the law when moving the monument - the county could be on the hook for the 25 thousand dollar fine for violating the memorial preservation act.
That would happen if the attorney general's office sues the county and a judge finds they broke the law.
At last check with the a-g's office no decision had been made.
Live in huntsville sm waay 31 news.
The city of huntsville confirmed that it cost more than 33-thousand dollars to move the monument.
A spokeswoman said the city covered the price of the entire project -
Alexis Scott spoke with an organizer of the protest in Albertville concerning the removal of the confederate monument.
We're learning more about what led up to the removal of the confederate monument in front of the Madison County courthouse.
