By Mikaela Porter
mporter@postandcourier.com
On the fifth anniversary of the Emanuel AME Church shooting in mid-June, Mayor John Tecklenburg and nearly all City Council members announced plans for the statueâs removal. For weeks leading up to the announcement, protests and a riot flared in the city.
It took a crew 17 hours to remove the 12-foot figure of Calhoun that stood atop a towering column over 100 feet in the air. The statue, which came down on June 23, was affixed to the base with epoxy and a metal rod.
The city is storing the statute and leaders have tried to keep the location a secret. Officials initially planned to have it displayed at a museum, but so far there have been no takers.