Judge denies restraining order; UT free to move Jefferson Davis statue
A Travis County judge on Thursday denied a request for a restraining order filed by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, clearing the way for officials at the University of Texas to move a controversial statue of Jefferson Davis off the university’s Main Mall.
The three-hour hearing, in a small courtroom filled with reporters and onlookers, featured testimony from David Steven Littlefield, a relative of former UT regent George Littlefield, who donated the Jefferson Davis statue to UT and specified in his 1920 will that it remain in a prominent place on campus.
“I think it’s just absolutely silly for them to move those statues based on someone being offended,” David Steven Littlefield said on the witness stand, echoing concerns that have been raised across the country in recent months as public memorials of the Confederacy have been moved or replaced because of their ties to slavery.
Attorney Kirk Lyons, representing the Sons of Confederate Veterans, went a step further, calling it a “cultural atrocity.”
Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/judge-denies-restraining-order-ut-free-to-move-jef/nnSNr/
