Texas Town 'Balances' Confederate Statue With One Of Lawyer Who Fought KKK

Amid calls to remove a confederate statue, Georgetown, Texas erected a monument to Dan Moody, a lawyer who charged and convicted four members of the local KKK in the 1920s.
Wade Goodwyn / NPR

GEORGETOWN -- Arguments over Confederate statuary and flags rage on across the South. Confederate memorials in Norfolk and St. Louis were vandalized, the small town of Brandenburg, Ky. welcomed a Confederate statue that the University of Louisville had taken down and New Orleans has now removed four monuments. Controversies have also sprouted in Virginia, South Carolina and Maryland.

The debate over monuments usually centers around one question — should they stay or should they go? Now, some leaders of a town in Texas with their own controversial confederate statue believe they've found a third option — though not everyone is thrilled with their compromise.

Georgetown Mayor Dale Ross stands in his historic town square, hand resting proudly on the chest of Dan Moody, the city's latest statuarial acquisition.

"He is an icon in Williamson County. He was responsible for the first successful prosecution of the KKK in the United States of America," Ross explained.

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