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DeKalb County to vote Tuesday on whether to remove Confederate monument

Decatur's Confederate monument IMAGE 11ALIVE

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb County commissioners are expected to vote this week on whether they will remove a Confederate monument that currently sits outside the old Decatur courthouse.

State law indicates the 30-foot statue cannot be destroyed, hidden or placed into storage, but commissioners voted back in October to move it to another site, likely a graveyard or a museum.

Before the county could remove the monument, though, they had to determine who actually owned monument itself. When construction of the monument was originally authorized and directed by the Camp of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy in the early 1900s, there was a formal dedication ceremony, but no clear indication that ownership was turned over to DeKalb County.

DeKalb said it is moving quickly because the monument has been vandalized two times in the past few weeks. They're also concerned it could easily become a flash point for violence similar to that seen in Charlottesville, Virginia.

PHOTOS: Confederate memorials at Ga. state Capitol

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