MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - The Latest on Memphis selling two public parks and the removal of Confederate statues in them (all times local):
9:30 p.m.
A crew in Memphis has removed a statue of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest from a park after the city sold it to a private entity.
Live video from the scene captured cheers as the statue was lifted off its marble base and placed on a flatbed truck late Wednesday.
The Commercial Appeal reports that the City Council approved the sale of two public parks containing Confederate statues for $1,000 each to Greenspace Inc. Memphis Chief Legal Officer Bruce McMullen said Greenspace can legally remove the statues, which the city was unable to do. He said the statues would be stored in an undisclosed location.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said in a tweet that the work at the parks complies with state law.
The statue of Forrest was in Health Sciences Park. A statue of President Jefferson Davis is at Fourth Bluff Park, where police had blocked off streets nearby.
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7:45 p.m.
A city council in Tennessee has voted to sell two city parks where two Confederate statues are located and crews have begun work to remove one of them.
The Commercial Appeal reports Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said in a tweet Wednesday that the parks were sold and that work underway there complies with state law. The city council unanimously approved the sale Wednesday to a private entity.
A statue of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest is located in Health Sciences Park and one of President Jefferson Davis is at Fourth Bluff Park.
A crane and crews were at Health Sciences Wednesday evening where a strap was wrapped around the Forrest statue.
Earlier this month, the city filed a petition asking for judicial review of the Tennessee Historical Commission’s denial of a request to remove the Forrest statue.
Forrest was a slave trader, Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader who became influential in the city’s growth after the Civil War.
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Information from: The Commercial Appeal, http://www.commercialappeal.com
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