granted a temporary injunction<\/a> sought by William C. Gregory, who contends in a lawsuit that the state promised to \u201caffectionately protect\u201d the statue when it annexed the land it stands on from Henrico County. The suit identifies Gregory as a great-grandson of a couple who were signatories to the deed.<\/p>\nState officials said they received no notice of Monday\u2019s hearing on the injunction and did not know about it until calls started coming in from the news media. Governor\u2019s counsel Rita Davis said the court was not required to give the administration a chance to respond but added that in most \u00adcases \u2014 such as recent suits filed against Northam\u2019s pandemic-related shutdown of businesses \u2014 \u201cwe have been afforded that opportunity. But we were not this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statue is on state property that was annexed from Henrico in 1890. In the deed recording the land transfer, the state \u201cguaranteed\u201d to \u201chold said statue and pedestal and circle of ground perpetually sacred to the monumental purpose\u201d and to \u201cfaithfully guard it and affectionately protect it,\u201d Gregory\u2019s lawyer, Joseph E. Blackburn Jr., argued in a court filing Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis family has taken pride for 130\u00a0years in this statue resting upon land belonging to his family and transferred to the Commonwealth in consideration of the Commonwealth contractually guaranteeing to perpetually care for and protect the Lee Monument,\u201d the suit states.<\/p>\n
Blackburn emailed a copy of the order to The Washington Post on Monday evening but did not respond to requests for comment. Another lawyer from his Richmond-based firm \u2014 Blackburn, Conte, Schilling & Click \u2014 said Tuesday that they would not discuss the case, but <\/span>issued a statement pointing out that they had also offered pro bono representation to several people arrested in the recent protests.<\/p>\nThe traffic circle around the Lee statue has become the focal point for 12\u00a0days of demonstrations against racial injustice, and its granite base is covered with graffiti. Four other Confederate statues along Monument Avenue are on city property. Mayor Levar Stoney (D) and members of the Richmond <\/b>City Council have said they will back removal of those statues under a law passed this year by the General Assembly that gives localities power over war memorials on their own property.<\/p>\n
Davis, the governor\u2019s counsel, said she would work with the office of state Attorney General Mark R. Herring <\/b>(D) <\/b>to ensure that there is a hearing on the Lee injunction as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were well aware of the potential legal challenges, and also well aware of the governor\u2019s legal authority to do this,\u201d she said, adding that the governor was prepared to take the issue to the Supreme Court of Virginia if necessary.<\/p>\n
In Byrd Park late Tuesday, a few dozen people gathered to look at the statue of Columbus submerged in Fountain Lake. \u201cI\u2019m not going to say I approve, but I\u2019m not going to say I disapprove either,\u201d said Ronald Johnson, 33, a call center supervisor who has marched five nights in the city over the past 12 days.<\/p>\n
Johnson was with at least 100 people at the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee \u2014 which Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) has said he plans to put in storage \u2014 when word spread that the Columbus statue has been torn down. A \u201cmassive cheer\u201d went up, he said, and he drove over to Byrd Park to see it for himself.<\/p>\n
John McDonnell contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RICHMOND \u2014 Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on Tuesday vowed to fight a temporary injunction from a Richmond Circuit Court judge that prevents the state from immediately removing the statue of Robert E. Lee that towers 60\u00a0feet above this city’s Monument Avenue.\u201cWe\u2019ve been preparing for this for a year,\u201d Northam said in a news briefing. \u201cThis…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[346,5421],"class_list":{"0":"post-40757","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-fight","9":"tag-northam"},"yoast_head":"\n
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