Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I write this in my capacity as a private citizen and not in my public capacity as Commonwealth’s Attorney. On Aug. 23, 2022, the Mathews County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted that the Civil War monument on the Court Green, and the land beneath it, was public property, owned by Mathews County.

Supervisors held a public hearing Sept. 21 on whether they should convey the monument and land beneath it to a private entity. The goal of protecting the monument from being moved, as stated by some supervisors, can be accomplished by less drastic means than conveying away a portion of the Historic Court Green.

Some say the reason to deed a portion of the Court Green to a private entity is to honor the 80 percent of the voters who did not want the monument moved and to prevent a future county board from moving the monument. But placing the ownership of the monument, and the land underneath it, in private hands does to future voters exactly what the current group does not want to happen to them—it prevents the views of a majority of the citizens from being honored by the board of supervisors. By conveying away the property, the supervisors are forever preventing future citizens from having a vote as to whether to move the monument.

Some supervisors proposed conveying two parcels of the Court Green to private entities—one for the Civil War memorial and one for another group. This would be a dangerous precedent. Where does this end? How many parcels of the Court Green will be conveyed away? Will the Court Green become a checkerboard of public and private property? Will the entirety of the Court Green eventually be conveyed away, or will the board discriminate against some groups and not convey land to them?

Conveying portions of the Court Green to private entities raises many concerns. Historically, the supervisors have maintained control over the monument. Will this control be lost if the land is conveyed to a private entity? Could the land and monument be conveyed from one private entity to another in the future? Will any private entity owning the memorial in the future be allowed to display hateful signs or broadcast hateful messages, which would be lawful on private property? What happens should the private entity cease to exist (as did the Mathews Monument Association which was formed in 1912 to build and maintain the monument)? Can the monument be moved, and the land sold to others? Would there be conditions placed in the deed that would cause ownership to automatically revert to the county?

The supervisors have declared the monument and the land underneath it as public property owned by the citizens of Mathews County. The supervisors owe a duty to the citizens to honor the 80 percent vote of the referendum and to ensure that the nature and character of the monument does not change. Trying to ensure this after the land has been conveyed to a private entity is problematic. No matter how extensive deed restrictions may be, you can never foresee every possibility.

Before making the momentous and unprecedented decision of conveying away portions of the Court Green, the board should do more “due diligence” and explore other options.

The supervisors need to retain total control over the monument and any changes to it, as has been done for more than 100 years, to ensure that the nature and character of the monument does not change in the future, otherwise there surely will be unintended consequences.

Tom Bowen
Mathews, Va.