Lawmakers in Denton County accepted a panel's recommendation that a monument to Confederate soldiers in front of the courthouse stay put, with some modifications.
County commissioners voted unanimously to keep the statue where it is on the south side of the square on the courthouse lawn, but a display denouncing slavery and providing context to the area's racial history, which included segregation, will be added next to it.
The 15-member committee was seated in October, after nationwide calls to remove Confederate symbols from public places, including Denton's monument which was erected 1918 by the Daughters of the Confederacy.
"I feel like we did a good job. The best job that could be done, we did it," said Denton Confederate Committee Chair John Baines. "Of course, if you ask me, 'did I get everything I wanted?' No I didn't, but that's the lesson of compromise."
Details of what the display will include, and where it will be placed still must be worked out.
Denton County commissioners also agreed to pay for whatever changes will be made next to the Confederate monument.
