Confederate statue headed for a new home?

Ocala.com
By Bill Thompson

"Johnny Reb" might be on the march.

County Commissioner Charlie Stone announced on Tuesday that some private groups are interested in relocating the two-story-tall, 15-ton statue depicting a Confederate infantryman from its current spot on the grounds of the courthouse to the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park.

Stone declined to identify who was behind the effort, noting that they were local residents interested in veterans' and historical issues.

Yet, Stone said, they would be willing to "fully fund" the $25,000 that county officials estimate it would cost to move the monument from the Marion County Judicial Center in downtown Ocala to the park, which is a couple of miles away at Fort King Street and Southeast 25th Avenue.

The statue of the musket-bearing soldier, known commonly as Johnny Reb, was moved in 2007 to make way for the $41 million expansion of the facility. Crews moved the monument from its post in front of the five-story county courthouse to a nook in the building's south side fronting Northwest First Street.

That expansion project is expected to be completed in January. But Johnny was expected to stay put.

In December 2007 Pat Howard, the former county administrator, had informed a representative of the Sons of Confederate Veterans who had inquired about the statue's future that Johnny Reb's new site was permanent.

In a Star-Banner article published on Sunday, county officials said new County Administrator Lee Niblock could not justify the cost to return Johnny to the front of the building, or relocating him anywhere else, such as the park, as some have proposed.

Stone told fellow commissioners at Tuesday's meeting that he recently had received calls from the potential benefactors whose interest was based on the county finding a "prudent" way to move Johnny to the park.

The rest of the commission acknowledged that they were interested in exploring the issue, but did not make a formal decision on whether to actually relocate the statue.

The five-figure price tag for moving the statue is attributed to the need for a specialized moving company and the fact that Johnny Reb, which is three parts fitted together, must be dismantled and reassembled.

The statue has been at the entrance to the county courthouse for almost a century - and, in more recent years, has periodically provoked controversy.

Read the complete story here:  http://www.ocala.com/article/20091104/articles/911041011?tc=autorefresh