Exchanges regarding the now-removed Confederate statue got heated between outgoing Daviess County Judge-Executive Al Mattingly and incoming State Senator Gary Boswell during Thursday’s Fiscal Court meeting. Boswell accused Mattingly of making the move “in secret” without advising commissioners, but Mattingly said that was “an outright lie.”
The 7-foot-tall bronze sculpture of a Confederate soldier was taken down Tuesday morning, though the large granite pedestal still remains. The current Fiscal Court members voted 22 months ago that they would move it.
The Kentucky Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy claimed they owned the monument, but Daviess County Judge Lisa Payne Jones recently issued a 16-page ruling that the monument is owned by Fiscal Court and was theirs “to dispose of as they choose.” The UDC plans to appeal the ruling.
When the floor opened for public comment during Thursday’s Fiscal Court meeting, Boswell — the lone candidate for the 8th District Senate seat that currently belongs to Matt Castlen — asked two questions in addition to making statements regarding his displeasure with the statue’s removal.
Rather than a back-and-forth conversation from the podium, Boswell was asked to give his statements and ask any questions before sitting down and listening to replies from county officials.
One of his questions was if the Commissioners knew about Mattingly’s decision to prior to the statue being removed.
After Boswell took a seat, Mattingly said he sent the Commissioners an email at 5:50 a.m. on Tuesday morning stating that the statue would be removed that morning.
Mattingly said he ordered the County Attorney to set up the removal “based on the results of the lawsuit … based on the 4-0 vote by Fiscal Court 22 months ago and based on the recommendations of the 5-0 vote by the committee that had been set up to offer us a recommendation.”
Commissioner Mike Koger then said he received the email but wasn’t awake at the time.
As Mattingly began to speak again, Boswell stated from his seat that Mattingly had moved the statue “in secret” without advising commissioners of the decision.
“That is an outright lie and I will give you a copy of the email that was sent to them,” Mattingly said.
Commissioner Charlie Castlen then stated that the confusion likely arose from a text conversation between he and Boswell that was misunderstood. Nonetheless, he said he did receive an email prior to the removal.
“To the point of your correspondence with me, the only thing I will confirm is that it definitely was moved before I saw the email — not before Al sent it, but before I saw it,” Castlen said.
Commissioner George Wathen then similarly said he got the email but did not read it until after the statue was removed.
Boswell’s second question — posed specifically to Castlen and Wathen — was if their vote to remove the statue was contingent upon the committee finding a suitable place for the statue.
Mattingly said the vote was not made with any contingencies but did include establishing a committee to make a recommendation for a future location for the monument. Mattingly opened the floor for the Commissioners to speak on the issue, but they each only addressed the question about the email.
Boswell said he believes that the decision to remove the statue “was against about 70% of the people in Daviess County’s thoughts about this issue.”
He pinned his findings on talking to some veterans in Daviess County who were “in a large majority” opposed to removing the statue.
During his statements made while at the podium, Boswell said that during his time as Commissioner from 1990 to 1999 the statue was not part of the County’s property. He specifically referenced when the statue needed to be cleaned and was handed over to a third party to repair it because it could not be cleaned by the County.
“During that period of time, I was in charge of the County’s insurance and that statue was never a part of the County’s insurance,” Boswell said.
That was incorrect according to Jordan Johnson, current Assistant County Treasurer. Johnson said the insurance policy as it stands includes a list of properties including works of art, both interior and exterior — and the statue falls under the items covered.
When the UDC first sued the County over ownership of the monument, a restraining order was issued that kept the County from moving it during legal proceedings. Jones’ ruling vacated that order, and she further said the monument was the County’s “to dispose of as they choose.”
While the UDC has filed a notice of appeal, Daviess County Attorney Claud Porter said earlier this week that nothing new has been filed to keep the County from moving the statue.
During his statements, Boswell claimed the statue was only moved based on a “technicality that a bond was not filed.” Porter reiterated Thursday that the UDC could have filed something else requesting the statue not be moved but didn’t.
Following county officials’ responses to Boswell, Janie Marksberry — who will be the next East County Commissioner — came to the podium and stated that she also does not support the removal of the statue and urged the current Fiscal Court members to review their decision.
“It could’ve been a teachable moment to our youth to not repeat this, especially as we witness our country more divided than ever today,” Marksberry said. “That soldier did not have a stance of arrogance or hatred only of solemn reflection.”
