The Polk County Commission announced no changes in their position – which is none – on movement of the Confederate Monument after a speaker came before the board during their October work session on Monday defending its continued presence on the County Courthouse lawn in downtown Cedartown.

The 114-year-old monument was previously called into question when Brittany Harris came before the Commission during their August 31 work session asking officials to consider removing the statue to a different location.

It was a request that Barry Colbaugh sought to redress with his time before the Commission. He came not only as a citizen but a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and took offense to a characterization of soldiers fighting on the side of the south being called “traitors” by Harris during the previous session, and spoke of Confederate generals who went on to serve in the United States Senate and Armed Forces during later campaigns as historical proof that the insurrection was forgiven.

Colbaugh also pointed out that the money raised by the United Daughters of the Confederacy at the time from 1902 to 1908 to pay for the memorial came from local residents at the time and amounted to $2,000 at the time. Considering the value of a dollar than to today, that would be $56,500 raised in that amount of time.

“The UDC had a labor of love, and began raising money in 1902, raised the monument in 1906, and paid it off in 1908,” Colbaugh said. “They honored the debt and worked hart to pay off the monument.”

He also said with the monument being 114 years old, it is one of the few existing structures in the county that remains standing from the previous century and that as well should be honored. He also said that a petition on iPetitions.com has gained 718 signatures and counting to call for keeping the statue in place honoring the Confederate soldiers who fought in the Civil War.

Any attempt to remove it would violate Georgia law, Colbaugh also pointed out and that it would be “erasing history” to have it taken down.

He added that “people labeling them (Confederate soldiers) as traitors, reverse of Jim Crow.”

“Labeling people in such a way (is wrong) and I don’t think it is bringing folks together when you pull down monuments and history,” he said.

No formal vote to protect the monument, remove it or take any action whatsoever on the issue was called for by commissioners during the work session on Monday evening.