The Talbot County Council voted 3-2 tonight to keep the controversial Talbot Boys statue on the county’s courthouse lawn. With Council President Corey Pack and Councilman Pete Lesher voting to remove the Confederate memorial, the balance of the council, including Council Members Chuck Callahan, Frank Divilio, and Laura Price, voted in the majority to keep the Talbot Boys in place.
Shortly after the decision, some one hundred protesters spontaneously arrived in downtown Easton to voice their opposition to the decision.
The Spy will have a full report on the vote on Wednesday.
Heather says
Saddened to see our county is lead by people who support and embrace our history racism. That will be the legacy of Price, Callahan, and Divillio in my mind and the minds of many. And when i sent letters to each of them expressing my support of removing the statue, none of them had the spine to write me back explaining why they believed the statue should remain.
Dave says
Baloney, it’s not supporting anything but honoring those local residents who served. You don’t erase history you remember and learn from it.
Doug says
yes they served. The served as traitors to our nation. They did not believe in the constitution, they did not believe in our nation. Why should they receive a participation prize?
James O. Siegman says
Dave, that statue does less than nothing to educate. It was placed to intimidate black Americans…otherwise perhaps those “well meaning educators” who placed it might have sought to educate the community of the WHOLE STORY….as opposed to a half truth (also known as a lie)…for if they wished to educate they would have memorialized those three times as many in number who served to preserve our Union.
Suzanne Todd says
So disappointed in this decision, but I’m not surprised. The Talbot Boys Statue is not in an appropriate place. As I wrote in my emails to the council, the statue certainly does not represent equal justice for all as it stands on the courthouse lawn. What would it have hurt to move it to a better place. I am embarrassed that our county continues to allow a statue with the Confederate flag stand on the courthouse lawn. Thank you, Mr. Pack and Mr. Lesher for your vote to remove it.
Richard Reiher says
Did anyone ascertain whether or not those “protestors” were paid, organized, and/or from out of town, or were they locals?
I believe the decision was correct. You can’t learn from history if you pretend it didn’t happen by destroying Monuments, banning books, censoring politically incorrect speech.
John E says
You also can’t learn history from watching Fox News and listening to the racist in the White House.
James O. Siegman says
I was present in May for protests and collected signatures for the removal of the statue/memorial.
I was not paid by BLM, ANTIFA nor George Soros or any other entity connected to right wing conspiracy theories. I was there out of conscience. The vast majority of the many people I came into contact with were local to the shore if not Talbot County specifically. …and I was asking. Perhaps not scientific but certainly no less so than your assertion.
Let’s not make this about divisive politics. Right and Left are not enemies but debate opponents. Healthy debate is the foundation of our country and it is high time that pundits, politicians and average citizens get back to a higher level of civility and reasoned discussion of the issues facing us.
Christopher says
Because we know nothing about the Revolutionary War secondary to the absence of statues dedicated to the Redcoats and Hessians
Jennifer Sproul says
What are you learning from the statute and from leaving it there?
Jahnae says
Way to go Talbot County Cowards
Angela Rieck says
Very disappointing and embarrassing. Richmond, the former capitol of the Confederacy, removed its statues and we cannot.
James O. Siegman says
If the county council will not legally remove this abomination of a memorial to Jim Crow following thousands of petitions, then perhaps it is time that the citizens of Talbot County have an old fashioned Tea Party of their own and remove it through brute force. Many, including myself have advocated for the memorial and statue commemorating treason to be removed to a more suitable location where it may stand in balance with a memorial of the Union Patriots who opposed that treason. If government will not act by the will of the people then it is the right, if not the DUTY of those citizens to oppose that government. I am not advocating violence here but I sincerely advocate that people organize and take down that statue if by a chain and a heavy vehicle. Furthermore, those council members from our community operate businesses…I advocate for a boycott of those businesses until such time as they re-evaluate and change their position. I will gladly drive outside Talbot county to do business with people more inclined to DO SOMETHING about the state of racism in the community and the nation.
Phil says
As I said earlier there are so many more important things to discuss in Talbot County than this statue. How about how we can help reopen schools and support our kids & teachers to get kids back in school?
Good grief, get a grip.
Maura Vanderzon says
You can’t escape the irony that on the very historic day that we nominate our first female woman of color as Vice President, the Talbot County Council votes to retain a monument to racism. I’m embarrassed and ashamed for my beloved “adopted” County.
Maura Vanderzon says
Oops! “Female woman of color” would be a bit redundant. “Woman of color” would have sufficed!
Michelle Wolfie says
I want to thank the Talbot County Council for producing the proper decision on Resolution 290 Tuesday evening. The Talbot Boys Monument is a vital piece of our County’s history. It is appalling that the extremists did not accept this vote and disgustingly deposited graffiti upon this monument immediately after this vote. In fact, Mr. Pack’s own relative instigated an obnoxious protest , when the vote didn’t please her, outside the Council meeting room while Council members were still in session. Unsurprisingly, these protesters were prepared to cover every exit of the Courthouse to scream and shout obscenities at our Council members who did not “take the knee” and vote the Marxist way – to obliterate history.
And I quote one such protester courtesy of The Talbot Spy:
James O. Siegman says
August 12, 2020 at 12:36 PM
If the county council will not legally remove this abomination of a memorial to Jim Crow following thousands of petitions, then perhaps it is time that the citizens of Talbot County have an old fashioned Tea Party of their own and remove it through brute force. Many, including myself have advocated for the memorial and statue commemorating treason to be removed to a more suitable location where it may stand in balance with a memorial of the Union Patriots who opposed that treason. If government will not act by the will of the people then it is the right, if not the DUTY of those citizens to oppose that government. I am not advocating violence here but I sincerely advocate that people organize and take down that statue if by a chain and a heavy vehicle. Furthermore, those council members from our community operate businesses…I advocate for a boycott of those businesses until such time as they re-evaluate and change their position. I will gladly drive outside Talbot county to do business with people more inclined to DO SOMETHING about the state of racism in the community and the nation.
In fact, the Council just did something about the “state of racism” in this county and our Nation. It rejected calls from the extremist and racist BLM, Antifa, NAACP and ACLU to remove a monument because it offends some people. The rioting, lawlessness, looting, arson, murder and extreme intimidation to defund our police, take a knee, submit to race baiters or else, has to end, and this is where it starts – the local county council.
James O. Siegman says
The existence of the statue is no longer the problem so much as people who continue to adhere to the very racist ideology that it represents. Those people won a victory in Talbot County as the council delivered a blow to decency.
Ms. Wolfe, it is clear that you fail to understand that the rioting and looting have occurred BECAUSE symbols of hatred continue to stand and there are still people in this nation who cannot see beyond the surface of issues to the underlying causes. Black people have been and continue to live under oppression…which is more insidious than blatant but exists none the less. It exists because a sizable portion of America refuses to relinquish its hold on tired ideology. And leaders continue to condone racism through dogwhistle tactics.
James O Siegman says
I would also like to address the term extremist that you are using here and seemingly pointed at me through your use of quoting my post.
I am not an extremist, rather I am a Patriot. I am a veteran of 22 years service to the US military. My country, over the last few years, no longer resembles the one I deployed to Afghanistan for. Race baiting by alt-right groups has been condoned and promoted almost flagrantly by the current administration. I am from this area (Queen Anne’s County) and raised my family here in Easton. I find that having the Talbot Boys statue and monument on the courthouse grounds an embarrassment to my community. I never knew its history until recently and once aware of its origins and unspoken purpose of intimidation I feel compelled to advocate for its removal. Brand me an extremist if you will. As my post indicated, I have advocated reasonable and rational measures to ensure that monument be moved to a suitable location. When an outpouring of community members to sign thousands of petitions to support its removal is IGNORED by our county council…I find THEIR view to be extreme in addition to morally wrong. Had they offered that they would consider a proper removal I could understand waiting. But it remains important that the governed remind the governing who is in charge as the governors answer to the electorate and yet they offer no response to an aggrieved community of the governed. So my feelings would not be so hurt to see that statue toppled.
Bruce Corley says
Thank you Councilwoman Price, Councilmen Divilio and Coucilmen Callahan.
The name calling that has been directed at you all for standing up to the “cancel culture” is pathetic and to the point of being laughable!
Rest assured, the Talbot County citizen support behind each one of you is strong.