Confederate heritage group asks for monument

Editor:

Columbia Countys Vision is to be a premier community in which to invest, live, work and raise a family. Its Values: pursuing new horizons while retaining time-honored traditions. Those who serve the county have made a Pledge: to serve as stewards of the publics assets, interests and trust.

The history and heritage of Columbia County is an asset to both newcomers and to the families whose roots run deep in Columbia County soil. Patriotism itself demands that we shall cherish the associations with our past. We must never forget the men who fought and those who died in defense of their homes, county and state. To fail to cherish their memories would be to trample family, self-respect and honor. We cannot love our country without first loving our families, homes, history and heritage.

Last April, the Columbia County Commis-sion voted unanimously to allow the Sons of Confederate Veterans to place a privately-funded monument to honor the Confederate soldiers of Columbia County on a county site to be approved by the Board.

This April - the month that includes Confederate Memorial Day, a Georgia state holiday - the Sons of Confederate Veterans will ask that the Commission approve a site in front of the new Columbia County Courthouse Annex in Evans for a monument to the American veterans from Columbia County who wore the gray.

Gen. Robert E. Lee once wrote: There is a true glory and a true honor: the glory of duty done - the honor of the integrity of principle.

Among Columbia County Confederates, the names are known of 158 who gave their lives. Those who returned helped make Columbia Countys Values and Vision come true today - lest we forget.

T.W. Highsmith, chairman

Confederate Monument Committee

Sons of Confederate Veterans

Evans