Politics & Government

Forsyth County Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Over Confederate Statue

88.5 WFDD - Public Radio For The Piedmont | By Keri Brown

Published May 8, 2019 at 4:17 PM EDT

Crews prepare to remove the Confederate soldier statue in downtown Winston-Salem. File photo: March12, 2019 KERI BROWN/WFDD

A superior court judge in Forsyth County has dismissed a lawsuit involving a Confederate monument that until recently stood in downtown Winston-Salem.

Judge Eric Morgan granted the city and other defendants' motion to dismiss the case this week. He dismissed it with prejudice, meaning the United Daughters of the Confederacy can't bring it back to that court.

The Confederate statue had been at the corner of Fourth and Liberty Streets in Winston-Salem since 1905. The city took steps to remove it after it was vandalized twice. They said it's a public nuisance and a safety concern. A few protests were also held in front of it while the public debate over its future ignited in the community.

Supporters say it's a historical artifact that belongs where it was, in front of the former county courthouse.

The city removed the statue in March. The private landowner where it stood also asked the UDC to move it.

The monument was moved to an undisclosed storage area after it was taken down. The city says it has offered to help pay for relocating it to a nearby cemetery, where several Confederate soldiers are buried.

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Keri Brown

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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Forsyth County Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Over Confederate Statue

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