Rockdale County removes Confederate monument from courthouse

ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. - Rockdale County has removed its Confederate monument from the heart of Olde Town Conyers to a more appropriate location.

That announcement came from Rockdale County Commission Chair Oz Nesbitt Sr. in a video message posted to the county's Facebook page on Tuesday.

“I’ve made an executive decision to remove the Confederate monument here on the courthouse property here in Rockdale County in the heart of Olde Town Conyers,” Nesbitt said in the video.

The monument honoring the Confederate veterans has sat just off Maine Street between Court and Milstead Avenue next to the Rockdale County Courthouse since 1913.

A crowd gathered around the monument around 10 p.m. Tuesday as crews started to move it.

Under Georgia state law, “No publicly owned monument honoring Confederate soldiers shall be relocated, removed or altered in any fashion.” No word on how the county plans to get around the law.