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98 N.C. L. Rev. Addendum 1467 (2019-2020)

handle is hein.journals/addendum98 and id is 1 raw text is: 






Who   Owns   the  Confederate   Monument in Winston-Salem?*

In 1905, the United Daughters  of the Confederacy's James B. Gordon Chapter of
Winston-Salem  erected a monument to the Confederacy on the grounds of the Forsyth
County Courthouse. The monument  stood on Forsyth County property until 2014 when
the Forsyth County  Commissioners  sold the old courthouse and the surrounding
courthouse square to a real estate developer. After multiple instances of vandalism to
the monument,   the City of Winston-Salem  ordered the United Daughters of the
Confederacy (UDC)  to remove the monument. The city and Forsyth County believe
that the UDC owns the monument.  But, the UDC says that Forsyth County is the true
owner. Regardless, the city removed the monument from  the courthouse square in
March  2019. Ongoing legal proceedings between the UDC and the city, county, and
current property owner focus on the question of whether the city is allowed to remove
the monument  under a state law that prohibits the permanent removal of objects of
commemoration.  This Recent Development argues that determining the owner of the
monument   is an essential threshold question and finds that Forsyth County owns the
monument  using two theories: the common law of gifts and constructive ownership via
government speech.

      In 1905, the United  Daughters  of the Confederacy's  James  B. Gordon
Chapter  of Winston-Salem erected a monument to the Confederacy on the
grounds  of  the Forsyth  County   Courthouse.1  For the  next 109  years, the
monument, a Confederate soldier holding a rifle   by  his side atop a pedestal
thirty feet high, stood  on Forsyth  County   property. In 2014,  the Forsyth
County  Commissioners   sold the old courthouse and the surrounding courthouse
square to a real estate developer. The deed excluded certain artifacts and all the
public  monuments   from  the sale and  allowed for future easements   for the
county  to maintain or remove  the artifacts or monuments.2 On  December   31,
2018, after a few instances of vandalism, the City of Winston-Salem  wrote  to
the United  Daughters  of the Confederacy (UDC)   directing it to remove the
monument   because the city believed that the monument belonged  to the UDC.3


     * © 2019 Gwen Barlow.
     1. John Hinton, Timeline of Winston-Salem's Confederate Monument, WINSTON-SALEM J. (Jan.
25,  2019), https://www.journalnow.com/uploadedpdfs/w-nws-statue-p/pdf df9610c2-2651-5d4d-
a06a-4476b0e07b3b.html [https://perma.cc/7L5D-W47Z (dark archive)].
    2. Warranty Deed from Forsyth County, North Carolina, to Winston Courthouse, LLC (Mar.
18, 2014) Book 3170, Page 2422, 2423, Forsyth County Register of Deeds.
    3. Letter from Angela I. Carmon, City Attorney of Winston-Salem, to Peggy Johnson, President
of the N.C. Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, et al. 2 (Dec. 31, 2018),
https://bloximages.newyorkl.vip.townnews.com/journalnow.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5
/f5/5f58d9e0-e174-552b-af11-9ab612b28cc1/5c2c30060d61b.pdf.pdf [https://perma.cc/B7R6-5HVX].

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