As of Sunday at 3 pm, the original petition calling for the removal of all Confederate monuments from public property in Paducah, had 1,787 signatures.
Meanwhile, two subsequent petitions which urge the city to keep the monuments in place, have gathered a combined total of 9,113 names.
All three petitions are posted on the website Change.org. The petitions will eventually be presented to Mayor Brandi Harless and city commissioners.
PREVIOUS UPDATE:
As three local petitions continue to gather signatures on the subject of Confederate monuments in Paducah, a large majority of people who have signed in want to leave the monuments where they are.
One petition, in favor of removing all Confederate monuments from public property in Paducah, has gathered 1658 signatures as of 10 am Friday. That same petition also calls for a giving a new name to Paducah Tilghman High School.
The other two petitions, both urging the city to keep the monuments in place, have garnered 2,301 and 5,359 signatures, respectively, for a total of 7,660 signatures, or 82 per cent of all signees.
All three petitions are posted on the website Change.org. The petitions will eventually be presented to Mayor Brandi Harless and city commissioners.
All three petitions are linked below.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Emotions are running high on all sides of the Confederate monument issue across the nation, and across western Kentucky.
After a local group of citizens created an online petition to remove all Confederate monuments from public land in the city of Paducah, and to rename Paducah Tilghman High School, two additional groups of citizens have created online petitions to keep them.
The group, known as 'Paducah Residents', currently has more than 1400 signatures on their Change.org petition for "The removal and replacement of Confederate Monuments in Paducah". The petition says the monuments are "a representation slavery and racial oppression that serve only to remind the citizens of Paducah of a time when such things were not only prevalent in society, but sanctioned by the State."
Petitioners are calling for the removal of the statue of General Lloyd Tilghman from Fountain Square, and for the renaming of Paducah Tilghman High School. PTHS is named after General Tilghman's wife, Augusta.
Paducah Tilghman High School's latest student statistics available show an approximate enrollment of 800 students. 42% are African-American, 43% are White, 8% are identified as two or more races, 5% are Hispanic, and 2% are Asian.
The petition also calls for the "the immediate removal of any dedication to the Confederate cause on publicly funded land".
Meanwhile, the other two petitions to keep the monuments known as "We can not and must not remove history, or we will be doomed to repeat it ", and "Paducah Heritage Petition for Non-Removal of Confederate Monuments and Dedications" have a combined total of more than 3300 signatures on their Change.org petitions.
Petitioners in this case are calling for the refusal to allow "extreme leftists to destroy or deface our Paducah heritage. Most are unaware of our deep-rooted heritage that goes back to the 1700's. We must not allow those who would deface or destroy our monuments in the name of their own cause under the pretense of "offense". I am not offended by our heritage. It is history. It cannot be changed. Please stand with me and others in this petition to disallow destruction in our community."
The petitions will be delivered to Mayor Brandi Harless and Paducah City Commissioners.
On the Net:
Petition to remove monumentsPetition 1 to keep monuments
Petition 2 to keep monuments
