GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Crews on Monday removed a Confederate statue that was created as a memorial to men of the Gainesville area who lost their lives in the Civil War.
Work began Sunday to remove the statue, known as "Old Joe," in downtown Gainesville.
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The statue was removed from outside the Alachua County Administrative Building and returned to the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, which erected the bronze statue in 1904.
County officials said they did not know what the Daughters of the Confederacy would do with the statue.
Meanwhile, authorities said someone splashed red paint around a Confederate memorial park in Hillsborough County.
Hillsborough County sheriff's officials said in a news release that a passer-by called 911 after seeing that paint had been tossed on and around the memorial's columns and derogatory comments were scrawled in the paint. The site is on private property near Tampa on Florida's west coast.
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Other Confederate memorials in the area been targeted as well.
Hillsborough County commissioners voted on July 19 to remove a different monument in the county, this one in downtown Tampa and on county property, after several heated meetings filled with public discussion.
On Wednesday, the commission is scheduled to discuss the monument again with an update on the relocation.
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