HELENA — Helena’s city commissioners have agreed to seek a recommendation to install signs explaining the history and controversy of a 98-year-old city park memorial that honors Confederate soldiers who died during the Civil War.
The Independent Record reports commissioners had been thinking about asking the City-County Parks Board for a recommendation on renaming the Confederate Fountain in Hill Park. That proposal remains unresolved after commissioners met Wednesday.
However, the commission agreed to allow the Lewis and Clark County Heritage Tourism Council to craft language for signs at the park.
The fountain became a focal point for criticism and calls by two members of the city commission to be rededicated after last month’s slaying of nine people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. The man charged in the shooting was photographed with a Confederate flag.