Tavares council debates controversial statue

TAVARES, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Tavares City Council members are weighing in on whether the Lake County Historical Museum should display a confederate statue. 

The council passed a resolution Wednesday against bringing the statue to the city.  Pastor Mike Watkins got the issue on the agenda. 

“We’re glad that the community came together – the city heard our voices and our concerns,” Watkins said. 

The Lake County Historical Museum, which is in downtown Tavares, plans to display the state of Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith after lawmakers voted to move it out of the nation’s capital. 

“You after understand now, these statues were erected to send a message of white supremacy that other people are not equal to them,” Watkins said. 

A lot of people, on both sides of the issue, signed up to speak at Wednesday’s council meeting.  One of the council members, Bob Grenier, is also the museum curator. 

“I’m a museum guy. I thought what a great opportunity we have to bring people into our museums. Build economics! I was thinking as a curator and I still believe in it,” Grenier told the packed room. 

Grenier was the only member to vote against the resolution. Although the council’s decision sends a message, ultimately, whether or not the statue comes to Lake County is still up to the museum board. 

“It’s still coming. We’ve been awarded the statue,” Grenier said after the meeting. 

He says the statue is still a year away and a committee has been formed to decide how it will be presented.