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GOP Leaders Stand By Law Protecting Confederate Monuments

In this August 2018 file photo, police stand guard after the Confederate statue known as Silent Sam was toppled by protesters on campus at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. House Democrats have filed a bill repealing a law that restricts the removal of Confederate monuments. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File)

North Carolina House Democrats have filed a bill that would repeal a law restricting the removal of Confederate monuments on public property. But the bill is unlikely to gain Republican support.

House Bill 10 is co-sponsored by Democratic Representatives Pricey Harrison of Greensboro and Evelyn Terry of Winston-Salem.

It would repeal a 2015 law that bans state agencies and local governments from removing any “object of remembrance” on public property that “commemorates an event, a person, or military service that is part of North Carolina's history.”  Currently, legislation would have to be passed to remove or relocate Confederate monuments.

House Speaker Tim Moore tells The News and Observer he sees no need to change the law. Moore says it's up to the courts to resolve any challenges.

Officials at the University of North Carolina say the law limits their options in deciding the future of Silent Sam, the statue torn down by protesters on the Chapel Hill campus.

The UNC Board of Governors is currently developing a plan for the statue. Senate Leader Phil Berger says the legislature won't intervene in that decision.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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