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Proposal Would Create Five-Year Process To Remove Statues At Ohio Statehouse

The Christopher Columbus monument on the Ohio Statehouse grounds was installed in 1992, as part of the city's commemoration of Columbus' arrival in the Americas.
Karen Kasler
The Christopher Columbus monument on the Ohio Statehouse grounds was installed in 1992, as part of the city's commemoration of Columbus' arrival in the Americas.

The panel that manages the Ohio Statehouse grounds has proposed a way to petition for the removal of statues on Capitol Square – including the monument to Christopher Columbus, the only Columbus statue left in the city. 

House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) chairs the board to which proposals would be submitted, with an explanation of why a statue should no longer be on the Statehouse grounds.

Householder said it would be five years after that before a statue would come down, at the expense of those who want it removed.

He was asked: Is that fair?

“I think if you have a groundswell of folks out there that want something done, I think they would they would be able to come forward to that. And I doubt that it costs as much money to have something removed is as it would have to put it up there," Householder said.

If removal is approved, an architect or engineer would estimate the cost of taking down and storing a statue and restoring the site.

The board said the policy to remove a statue mirrors the one to put up a monument – though the last one erected, the Holocaust Memorial, took three years from proposal to completion.

Contact Karen at 614-578-6375 or at kkasler@statehousenews.org.
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