By Jillian Kay
Florence city council voted against the placement of a historic marker downtown near a Confederate statue at the Lauderdale County Courthouse.
The grassroots organization, "Project Say Something" says they've been working for seven years to get a marker installed.
Their founder, Camille Bennett, says the plaque would explain the confederate monument from the Black perspective.
They've worked with the city and thought they were close to compromise, but that compromise fell flat when the council voted 3-2 in favor of denying the installation of the marker.
City council members Jimmy Oliver, Dick Jordan and Bill Griffin voted against the marker.
Kaytrina Simmons and Michael Eubanks voted for it. Griffin did not attend the meeting.
District 6 Councilman Jimmy Oliver says the potential wording on the plaque was not what he expected.
"Our city historian got involved in it," Oliver explained. "Like you know, if we're going to put a marker down, it's got to be a historical-type marker, historical fact. This was more opinion than anything."
Bennett says some city council members have disappointed her time and time again. She plans to keep fighting for the marker to be installed.
"They have proven time and time again to be disingenuous and dishonest," Bennett said. "I've seen so many groups of people for different reasons showing up at city council meetings angry."
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