Tossing Confederate statues? We'll take them, Texas town official says

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Texas lawmaker wants confederate plaque removed from Capitol

House speaker Joe Straus sends letter to Governor Abbott calling for the removal of marker from the state Capitol

Suddenly removed or unwanted Confederate statues and monuments might find a new home in the Woodlands, Texas, after a town leader offered to accept them.

Gordy Bunch, the Woodlands Township Board Chairman, said Tuesday that his town -- located near Houston -- could take the statues that are being taken down across the U.S., arguing that the statues would enrich his otherwise new town’s sense of history.

“What's happening across the state and across the country is ridiculous regarding eliminating history,” Bunch told a gathering of the Texas Patriot PAC, sparking applause from around 60 people, the Houston Chronicle reported.

“We don't have a lot of history here in the Woodlands because we're only 42, 43 years old. For all these folks in Dallas, in Austin and San Antonio and other places looking to relocate their history, might I suggest they can take those assets over here.”

"Great suggestion," Republican Texas state Sen. Brandon Creighton was quoted as saying at the meeting, according to the Chronicle. Creighton also slammed Dallas' recent decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and a recent removal of a Confederate soldier statue from a park in San Antonio.

“We're not leaving it up to parents and educators and grandparents and those visiting the Capitol grounds to teach right and wrong based on history, when we're taking these monuments down and melting them down,” he told the crowd.

But Democrats have not shared in the excitement over Bunch's offer. Marc Meyer, chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Party, slammed the offer to bring the statues to the Woodlands or Montgomery County, noting the area has no connection to the Confederacy.

Workers inspect a statue of Robert E. Lee in a public park in Dallas, Sept. 6, 2017. (Associated Press)

“I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would want to bring those monuments to the Woodlands or Montgomery County, period,” Meyer said, the Chronicle reported.

The debate whether to take down Confederate statues and monuments continues in Texas after a prominent state Republican issued a letter urging lawmakers to remove a plaque installed in 1959 that celebrates the Confederacy, the Texas Tribune reported.

Republican House Speaker Joe Straus wrote a letter Tuesday, slamming a “blatantly inaccurate” plaque titled “Children of the Confederacy Creed”  that honors “those who enlisted in the Confederate Army” and suggests the Civil War was “not a rebellion, nor was its underlying cause to sustain slavery."

“This is not accurate, and Texans are not well-served by incorrect information about our history," Strauss wrote, according to the Tribune. He added that “Confederate monuments and plaques are understandably important to many Texans” but they must be “accurate and appropriate.”

“The Children of the Confederacy Creed plaque does not meet this standard,” he wrote.