Stronger solvent needed to clean Cape Girardeau's Civil War monument; man protests vandalism

Workers will try a new solvent to clean spray paint off a Civil War monument on the grounds of the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau that was vandalized Tuesday and has been wrapped in a tarp since.

Liley Monuments, the company in charge of removing the graffiti, ordered a high-powered industrial solvent from Minnesota on Tuesday and will apply it to the monument today, said Jeff Abernathy, a Liley sales representative who is helping rid the 80-year-old monument of the spray paint.

"We're really hoping this works," Abernathy said.

Clint Lacy, 39, used his day off work to come from Marble Hill, Mo., to protest the graffiti Thursday. Starting at 11 a.m., he stood in front of the monument with a Confederate battle flag and a sign that read, "Stop the hate."

"I'm standing up for the soldiers since they can't stand up for themselves," Lacy said. "They weren't fighting for slavery -- they had no choice."

Corey Echols, left, reaches his hand out to Clint Lacy for a handshake after discussing Lacy's protest Thursday afternoon, October 13, 2011. Lacey came from Marble Hill, Mo. to protest the message vandals left on the Civil War Confederate shrine Tuesday morning in the courtyard of the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau. The graffiti has been covered with a tarp since Tuesday. Lacy said, "I thought since these guys couldn't stand up for themselves, I thought I would come stand up for them for a while." Echols, a social work student at Southeast Missouri State University, was driving by when he saw Lacy protesting and pulled over to speak with him. Echols said "In a sense, it is contradicting itself. There is a lot more to the Confederate flag." (Laura Simon)

Lacy said that the flag evokes thoughts of racism and the Ku Klux Klan, and that is unfair because many unionists had slaves during the Civil War. Because the flag is also associated with southerners and conservatives, those people are often unfairly judged, Lacy said.

"I'm protesting to call attention to the double standard," said Lacy, who has traveled as far as Memphis, Tenn., to stand up for Confederate soldiers. "Our people aren't the ones defacing monuments."

On Tuesday morning, Cape Girardeau police received a call saying the monument had been vandalized. "Go south" was written on the front of the shrine that sits on Lorimier Street near the fountain. That apparently was a request that the marker be moved, not a pro-South message. "We are in the union," read the words on the back. "Obscene. Remove to [illegible] cemetary in the south."

No arrests have been made, police spokesman Darin Hickey said Thursday.

The paint had been sprayed heavily and seeped into the pores of the marble, Abernathy said, adding that the new solvent would more than likely restore the monument to its original condition. Because of the monument's age, its marble has grown more porous, he said.

The vandals "shot the paint so thick that it probably would have seeped into brand-new marble," too, Abernathy said. "We've been trying to get it out but it's been tough."

The 14 1/2-foot-tall monument was first erected in the city in 1931 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to commemorate the one Confederate unit gathered from Cape Girardeau during the Civil War. The hand-carved monument, which weighs 12 1/2 tons, was moved from its original spot on Morgan Oak Street to the courthouse grounds in 1995 by the Civil War Roundtable.

One side of the monument reads "C.S.A.," standing for the Confederate States of America. Below the letters, the Confederate flag has been chiseled into the marble. The east side of the marker says, "In Memoriam Confederate Soldiers of South East Missouri."

Lacy said his interactions with people during his protest were "95 percent positive."

Cory Echols, a social work student at Southeast Missouri State University, said he disagreed with Lacy's philosophy but he wouldn't deface a monument because of it. Vandalizing the monument didn't make much sense, he said.

"In a sense, it is contradicting itself," Echols said after shaking Liley's hand. "There is a lot more to the Confederate flag."

psullivan@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent address:

44 N. Lorimier St., Cape Girardeau, M-