Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
AUGUSTA — The Kennebec County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to remove a controversial statue from county property six months after the state’s judicial branch raised the issue.
The statue, which was erected outside the Kennebec County courthouse in 2013, depicts Augusta native Melville Fuller, who served as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court when it decided a case that institutionalized racial discrimination in the United States for more than five decades.
“I do not believe that Kennebec County should convey to others that we in any way support that court decision,” Patsy Crockett, chairwoman of the commissioners, said at the commissioners’ meeting. “That’s not to say we’re not proud that he was born in Augusta and the other good things he did in his life. But I, therefore, believe that the Melville Weston Fuller statue should be moved to a location more appropriate that would serve educational purposes and where the full history of his life could be discussed.”