Denton committee will recommend keeping town square's Confederate statue

The Confederate statue that sits atop an arch in the Denton's town square should stay, a committee charged with making a recommendation to Commissioner's Court decided Thursday.

The vote was 12-3 in favor of keeping the monument and adding a plaque with language denouncing slavery, plus a video screen showing videos that tout the racial progress the area has made, the Denton Record-Chronicle reported.

The monument was dedicated to Denton County in 1918 by the Daughters of the Confederacy and sits above the south-facing walkway toward the historic Courthouse on the Square.

Denton County Commissioners Court will ultimately decide the statue's future, in a meeting Tuesday.

The decision in the case of Dallas' more elaborate statue of Robert E. Lee went the other way in August 2017. A crane took the statue of Lee on his horse from Lee Park to Hensley Field, an 88-year-old former Naval Air Station now owned by the City of Dallas, near Grand Prairie.

But in more rural areas surrounding DFW, support for Confederate statues and monuments remains strong, the Star-Telegram reported in August 2017.

Denton's statue was vandalized in 2015, when the words "this is racist" were spray-painted at the top of the arch, just below the feet of the soldier depicted standing with his rifle.

The message on the plaque dedicating the statue reads, "The monument stands as a reminder of historic events and is intended as a memorial to Denton County citizens who sacrificed themselves for the community. Now, let this be a testimony that God created all men equal with certain inalienable rights. We are all one, citizens of Denton County."

Matthew Martinez: 817-390-7667; @MCTinez817

This story was originally published February 1, 2018 at 2:06 PM with the headline "Denton committee will recommend keeping town square's Confederate statue."