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Another Confederate Statue Comes Down, This Time in Dallas

After 81 years, Gen. Robert E. Lee's patrol along Turtle Creek has ended.

By Tristan Hallman and Matt Peterson

After 81 years, Gen. Robert E. Lee's patrol along Turtle Creek has ended.

The statue of the Civil War commander astride his horse Traveller and accompanied by a young soldier was removed quietly Thursday amid a noisy national debate over Confederate monuments.

A crane truck had arrived about 4 p.m. at Lee Park in Oak Lawn after squad cars blocked ramps on Interstate 35E to ensure its safe travel to Turtle Creek Boulevard.

On Sunday night, a tractor-trailer carrying a crane from Houston to remove the statue was involved in a deadly collision just south of downtown Dallas. That crane was damaged and could not complete the job.

Officials had trouble finding a crane suited to the job, with much of the necessary equipment in Houston devoted to recovery efforts after Hurricane Harvey.

But by about 6:30 p.m. Thursday, all logistical _ and legal _ challenges were overcome, and the 14-foot statue was lifted from its pedestal.

Delivery driver Chris Reid, 36, came by to observe the historic removal.

For a long time, he had not known what the statue commemorated. But once he learned it was the likeness of the Confederate general, he wanted to see it removed.

"This man shed his blood, sweat and tears to make sure my ancestors stayed enslaved," said Reid, who is black. "I can't be happy about that."

He lives in Oak Cliff but works near Lee Park, and he said he wasn't even willing to discuss the matter with people who cared deeply about preserving the statue.

Others standing nearby, who declined to give their full names, said they were sad to see the monument go. They said the sculpture had earned its place in Dallas history.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveiled the statue in June 1936, praising Lee as "one of the greatest American Christians and one of our greatest American gentlemen."

Frank Darbo, 40, was among those who came Thursday to share opinions on the statue's fate. His hand-painted sign made his feelings plain: "The radical left is destroying American History."

"I listened to both sides of the argument," he said. "I think both sides do have valid points. What I'm afraid of is that it doesn't stop with Confederate statues. Next it goes to George Washington, Abe Lincoln. Everybody. What this is really about is a small group of people on the radical left, the alt left, they're pushing for this. And it won't stop."

Darbo and another man said it would have been better to erect a statue nearby honoring boxing champion Muhammad Ali, instead of removing Lee.

The city planned to transport the statue to an undisclosed location. Details about plans for its storage have not been released.

The removal came after pro-statue callers inundated the offices of City Council member Jennifer Staubach Gates and Mayor Mike Rawlings.

A conservative group had implored callers to express their opposition to the council's near-unanimous decision directly to Gates and Rawlings. But neither of them had the power alone to halt the removal.

The council voted nearly unanimously this month to remove the sculpture immediately, but that plan was put on hold after a federal judge granted a temporary injunction to halt removal.

That order was dissolved a day later, but further delays followed.

Before and after the injunction, workers found it would be difficult to dislodge the statue because they lacked the original plans showing how it was mounted to the base.

But the chief conservator tasked with the statues' removal was confident.

"It's beautifully engineered," said Michael van Enter of van Enter Studio. "But everything can be removed."

Thursday's removal upstaged a demonstration planned at the park this weekend.

The demonstrators, who call themselves This Is Texas Freedom Force, have said they wtill still gather at Saturday morning at the park.

Police, who were at the park in force Thursday, have promised a major presence during the demonstration.

Dayna Roberts and her 16-year-old daughter, Gabrielle, were among those choosing sides around the statue Thursday.

Roberts, who is black, said she hopes the sculpture will be replaced with something all people can enjoy. Lee "definitely didn't unite us."

Gabrielle said she found it "interesting that we've venerated this man who has nothing to do with Dallas."

She rejected the idea removing the statue would erase history.

"Like anyone is ever going to forget Robert E. Lee, ever," she said.

(c)2017 The Dallas Morning News

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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