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Lexington Mayor Says Cemetery Board Tentatively OKs Taking Confederate Statues

Daderot, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain (cropped)// Bedford, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain (cropped)

A Kentucky mayor says a cemetery board has tentatively agreed to take two Confederate statues.The Lexington Herald-Leader reports Lexington Mayor Jim Gray announced the Lexington Cemetery board's decision on Monday after he attended the meeting. Gray said the legal details still need to be determined.

The decision affects the statues of Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan and John C. Breckinridge, a U.S. vice president and Confederate secretary of war. Morgan and Breckinridge are both buried at the cemetery.

The Lexington Fayette-Urban County Council voted last month to move the statues from outside a former courthouse. Gray was given 30 days to return with a new location. The deadline is Thursday.

Gray told the cemetery board previously that the statues come with an endowment for upkeep, maintenance and security. The city is accepting donations for the endowment.

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