Photograph: The Confederate Monument on the St. Landry Parish Courthouse Square in downtown Opelousas that was vandalized with black paint Monday night. (Photograph by Bobby Ardoin.)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
St.Landry Parish government is seeking assistance from the Louisiana State Police in identifying an individual that is suspected of vandalizing, with black paint and attempting to drag down the Confederate monument located on the St. Landry Parish Courthouse Square, according to parish president Jessie Bellard.
Bellard said during a Tuesday interview that there is video footage of a man who appears to have first attempted to pull down the monument with a blue pickup truck sometime early Tuesday morning.
The attempt to drag the monument down with a rope tied to the truck apparently failed, Bellard said the video footage indicates that he later returned to the monument and began painting over several of the marble panels on the monument.
“All we know about who did this is what we have captured on the video footage. The video is kind of blurry, so we are asking the State Police to help us with the identification,” said Bellard.
Bellard said that the video seems to indicate that the attempt to pull down the monument and then applying black paint to the marble sections was done by what Bellard said is an elderly white man.
According to a Tuesday morning parish government social media Facebook post, the monument was apparently painted allegedly sometime late Monday night.
The black paint paint on the monument hides names of Confederate officers who were involved in military engagements during the Civil War.
Parish Council members are scheduled to discuss the monument and the proposed removal process Wednesday night during a series of committee meetings.
Bellard said during a regular December meeting that scaffolding had been placed next to the monument as an initial effort that would eventually lead to moving the statue to a Confederate cemetery and museum in northern Tangipahoa Parish.
In March Parish Council members passed a resolution to move the monument located on parish-owned property to another location.
Council members also told Bellard at the same meeting that they did not think the parish should spend any money during the process of moving the monument.
Included in that resolution Bellard said, is a provision that donates the monument back to the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Bellard last year also told council members that he had found a contractor who is willing to move the monument at no cost. However Bellard added that the process of transporting the monument to a location over 100 miles away would be difficult since the monument is nearly 30 feet high and weighs about 20,000 pounds.
If anyone knows who drives this truck, please give Parish President Jessie Bellard a call or text at 337-351-1482. You can also send him a message on Facebook Messenger.
