Minor: Legislature won’t likely address Confederate monuments this session; motion to destroy Bell statue fails

After meeting with the county’s state Sen. Pete Flores recently, Minor put forward another vote to remove the controversial statue. Minor said he met with Flores and County Judge David Blackburn and was told that it was unlikely that a bill to allow the county to put the statue’s removal up for a countywide vote would be approved this legislative session.

Commissioners have previously delayed any action on the statue, siding in favor of waiting until the state gives them the ability to put it up for a vote.

“So here we are again,” Minor said. “I don’t see it happening this legislative session, so to even bring it back up again would be in 2025.”

As a combat veteran, Minor told the other commissioners that he found it offensive that a statue to a rebel force was in a place of prominence on county grounds.

While the motion was to destroy the statue, Minor said he would be open to a compromise with the other commissioners.

“This is something that has been years in the making, waiting for a decision by the Commissioners Court,” Minor said. “I think we owe it to our constituents to work on a compromise. We want members of the community who want us to either do something or not do something, so I think we owe it to them.”

Daniel Elder, a Temple resident, was the first to speak at the meeting and voiced support for the relocation of the statue.

Elder said that the monument is not for Confederate veterans since the word veterans doesn’t appear on the statue at all. He said that revisionists in the community have tried to make people think otherwise.

As a combat veteran who has served 26 years in the military, Elder said he was opposed to the statue.

“The Confederate soldier was the enemy of my Army and my country,” Elder said. “The Confederate soldier is not my hero.”

Elder said he would rather the statue be replaced with one honoring all American veterans and soldiers instead of one that honors those who rebelled against the country.

The statue, Elder said, should instead be moved to the Bell County Museum in Belton where experts can tell the full story of the Civil War and the county’s role in it.

“By leaving the Confederate soldier monument in place in a place of prominence at the county seat, Bell County continues to endorse a symbol of racism and oppression,” Elder said.

Denise Seibert also spoke at the meeting, voicing concern over the removal of the statue and what the removal could mean for the community.

Seibert compared the Confederate statue with other places of historical significance that she visited over her life. These included the Berlin Wall, concentration camps in Germany and the Edmund Pettus Bridge, a National Historic Landmark in Selma, Ala.

People in the community, Seibert said, needed a reminder of the horrible things that happened throughout history in order to not repeat them.

“We don’t tear down our history, we have to remember,” Seibert said. “If we don’t keep it in the open, it will be hidden and it will be repeated.”