Fort Smith discusses a possible move for Confederate statue
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FORT SMITH, AR (KFSM) — Talks are underway about possibly moving a Confederate statue from downtown where it’s sat for more than 100 years on the courthouse lawn.
The historical Oak Cemetery is where the City of Fort Smith is proposing moving the Confederate statue.
“It has a governor buried in it, Governor Fishback. It has 16 mayors, but it’s not kept up,” said Joey McCutchen, representative for the United Daughter of the Confederacy, about the cemetery.
McCutchen says they are considering this proposal but need guarantees from the city, like owning the land the statue will sit on and know exactly where the statue would be placed in the cemetery.
“This is a 30-acre cemetery and for them to say we’re just going to move it to Oak Cemetery, well what is that location,” McCutchen said. “Is it on top of the hill or down near Old Greenwood Road. We need answers to that, and we haven’t been provided with those answers.”
Oak Cemetery is also owned and maintained by the city.
McCutchen says other than knowing the location there are other things the city must agree to before they will consider moving the statue to Oak Cemetery.
“We feel like it’s a win, win if the city makes the investment and guarantees they are going to fix the roads, they are going to upkeep the roads, they are going to fix the drainage problem out here, they are going to upkeep the cemetery where it never gets in a state like it is now,” he said.
The City of Fort Smith did get an estimate to see how much it would cost to move the statue from the courthouse lawn less than two miles to Oak Cemetery. The total cost would be $90,000 but the city says the bill would have to be paid for with private funds.
Founder of the River Valley Economic Development Council, Mosie Boyd, says she’s excited the community is coming together and looking for a solution that listens to everyone. She thinks if improvements are made that the cemetery would be a great home for the statue.
She says she understands the original goal was that the statue be part of a cemetery.
“It also meets the objective of the individuals in our community who feel like we need to make sure that everyone feels the sense of freedom and equality that our community, government buildings, and public services offices offer,” Boyd said.
The land where the statue sits now is county-owned land but the United Daughters of the Confederacy have a perpetual use permit, so the county or city cannot move the statue without their permission.
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