Manatee commissioners want to discuss bringing back Confederate monument taken down five years ago

BRADENTON, Fla. - Manatee County commissioners want to discuss bringing back the county's civil war Confederate memorial.

"My desire is to see it repaired and returned to its original location," said Commission Chair Kevin Van Ostenbridge. 

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Van Ostenbridge is not alone, and it's a discussion a majority of Manatee commissioners want to have. The 1924 memorial was taken down at night on August 24, 2017, and it has remained in storage after it was broken into three pieces.

"The board unanimously agreed the monument should never have been taken down in the first place, there was some dissent about what should happen now, we agreed it should be placed on a future agenda to be discussion for us to talk about what to do with the monument moving forward," said Van Ostenbridge.

Some agree, saying soldiers of any war should not be forgotten.

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"We would always put up every war, why not the Confederate war, this was a time. It’s not a good time, but we’ve learned from that and grown from that," said Commissioner Jason Bearden.

Manatee County resident Deborah Clark agreed.

"If we take history out of our country it is doomed to be repeated again and again," she said.

Others said the Confederate memorial stands for oppression.

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"As a black woman, I am hurt, I’m offended. I feel that is a slap in the face," said Sarah Parker, the president of Women's Voices of Southwest Florida.

Kaity Danehy-Samitz said the memorial needs to stay where it is.

"This is not something that's happened. There's been no other account of a county having taken down a Confederate statue and then taking the time, effort, resources and taxpayer dollars to resurrect it," she said.

Others believe focusing on the memorial now, could undo progress being made in Manatee County.

"You hear about people taking these down, which I disagree with. You never hear about them putting them back up," said Commissioner George Kruse. "If you want to start a – I’ll try to keep my language clean – a firestorm then put a Confederate monument up."

The county administrator said he will place the topic on a future county commission meeting agenda. He said the monument can be fixed, would it have to be fixed at its permanent location.