Confederate statue could be moved after city panel’s vote

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A historic commission in Kentucky’s largest city says a Confederate statue can be removed from a prominent location.

News outlets report the Louisville Metro Landmarks Commission voted 5-3 Thursday to allow removal of John B. Castleman’s monument. Hours later, the statue was vandalized with paint for the fifth time since a 2017 deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The commission’s decision is final unless it’s appealed to a Circuit Court within 30 days.

Castleman was a Confederate soldier and later a U.S. general. He helped found Louisville’s park system. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer’s administration has pushed to relocate the statue because of Castleman’s ties to the Confederacy and support of slavery.

The city is working to move the statue to Cave Hill Cemetery, where Castleman is buried.