Confederate statue supporters to rally over removal request

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Supporters of a Confederate statue in North Carolina are planning a rally after the city where it stands ordered its removal.

The Winston-Salem Journal reports a new group called the Heirs to the Confederacy plans to meet Jan. 13 at the spot where the now-toppled “Silent Sam” statue stood at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and then ride to Winston-Salem.

Winston-Salem has told the United Daughters of the Confederacy to remove the monument by Jan. 31 or face a possible lawsuit. After two vandalism incidents in less than 1 1/2 years and confrontations over Confederate monuments elsewhere, the city attorney believes it creates a public nuisance.

The city has offered to pay for the statue’s relocation to a cemetery, but the UDC says it will fight the effort.

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Information from: Winston-Salem Journal, http://www.journalnow.com