Emotions ran high at the Mathews County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, as a crowd packed the historic courthouse to protest a perceived threat to the Confederate Veterans Memorial on the court green.

Calvin Morgan, a Garden Creek resident, turned in a petition to the board titled “Petition for the Preservation of Mathews County History and Heritage” that he said carried nearly 800 signatures. The petition asked the board to “affirm its protection of Mathews County History and Heritage under the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution and current law.”

The petition further cites Virginia Code Section 15.2-1812, which allows for the erection of monuments for “any war or conflict,” from the Algonquin wars of 1622 through Operation Iraqi Freedom beginning in 2003. It also prevents local authorities “or any other person or persons” from damaging or defacing monuments or prohibiting citizens from protecting, preserving, and ...