Wilmington attorney weighs in on Silent Sam decision
Thom Goolsby is a member of the UNC System Board of Governors
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WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) - A Wilmington attorney and member of the University of North Carolina System Board of Governors disagrees with UNC’s recommendation to construct a building for a Confederate statue that was torn down on campus this year.
Thom Goolsby, the owner of Goolsby Law Firm, posted a statement and video on Facebook calling the UNC trustees “cowardly” for agreeing to spend $5.3 million to build a development for the statue known as Silent Sam.
In the Facebook post, Goolsby calls for the statue to "be placed back on his stand and that appropriate fencing be erected to protect this historical monument!"
UNC said it wanted to move the statue off campus, but state law requires it be put back in a similar location to where it was brought down.
Goolsby countered that the school's "illegal excuse for relocating the statue is that is poses a 'dangerous condition'" per North Carolina General Statute 100-2.1.
"The reason cited deals with unsafe conditions related to the physicality of the object and in no way is related to property destruction and threats from the outside radicals who tore down Silent Sam," Goolsby wrote. "Clearly the law does not contemplate allowing criminal actors to dictate the placement of historic objects."
The school's plan is to house Silent Sam in a $5.3 million development called Odum Village.
Goolsby implored people to call each member of the UNC Board of Governors and Board of Trustees demanding Silent Sam’s return to its original place.
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