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Lexington Confederate Monument Removed Overnight

Lexington's Confederate memorial stood on the square at the corner of Main and Center Streets. PAUL GARBER/WFDD

A controversial Confederate statue in Lexington was removed late Thursday night.

 

The ongoing fight over the monument divided city leaders, who wanted the statue

removed from its central location, and Davidson County Commissioners, who

believed it should remain.

 

The monument is technically owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

County officials announced on Wednesday that the UDC reached an agreement

with the city to remove the statue from its central location, where it has stood for

over a century.

 

Fox8 News reports the city has agreed to pay for the statue's removal and storage,

and will drop its lawsuit against the UDC.

 

County commissioners released a statement saying they believe the statue should

have remained, but that the UDC retained the right to move it.

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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