The Mathews County Board of Supervisors received several requests Tuesday night to take down the Confederate monument that has stood on Mathews Court Green since 1912.
Online requests read to the board said the monument is divisive and a bitter reminder to the county’s African-American population of the days of slavery and Jim Crow.
No action was taken or proposed at the meeting.
In other business, the board approved three zoning applications.
The board held its first in-person meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic began sweeping the nation in March. To allow for social distancing in a crowd, the meeting was held in the Mathews High School auditorium, with seats taped off to force people to spread out, and packets of sanitizing cloths at each microphone so disinfection could take place between speakers. Masks were required.
Board members and staff were spaced apart at tables on the stage.
The online comments were also new to the board meeting format, allowing people to express their opin...