The Lexington Cemetery Board has given a "conditional yes” to accepting two Confederate statues now on the grounds of the Historic Old Courthouse.
The cemetery's governing board gave its response Monday after Lexington Mayor Jim Gray and others stated their case.
During a late day City Hall briefing, three speakers made it clear that more needs to be done before cemetery trustees give their final approval.
Among them was Mayor Gray. “We have days not weeks to build our application to the military heritage commission,” said Gray.
Reverend C.B. Aikens, of First Baptist Church, Bracktown, said he’s optimistic the remaining issues can be worked out, adding, quote, “we’re citizens negotiating with citizens for citizens.”
“It’s better that we negotiate out whatever concerns that they have now than for them to have some remorse about it later on, because we want them to feel good about their decision as well,” noted Aikens.
Mayor Gray admitted security is one of the issues cemetery board members want to discuss. He says the final negotiations should be done in the next few days.
