A lawsuit filed against the city of Little Rock this week claims that the removal of the base of a monument honoring Confederate soldiers from its location in MacArthur Park violated a 2021 state law.
Additionally, the complaint argues that because the monument had not been placed in a new location by the end of December, Little Rock was in breach of a 2020 agreement between the city and the state.
"Memorial to Company A, Capital Guards" featured a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier atop a pedestal. It was erected in 1911 as part of a reunion of Confederate veterans.
In June 2020, amid nationwide racial-justice protests, the base of the monument was vandalized with a varnish-like substance. The city of Little Rock removed the bronze statue days later. The base was boarded up and in 2021 it was removed, too.
In addition to the monument to Company A, two other markers tied to the Confederacy -- a granite block and a bench -- were ultimately removed from MacArthur Park.
Attorney Joey McCutchen of Fort Smith filed the complaint Tuesday in Pulaski County Circuit Court on behalf of plaintiff James Frank Clark III. The complaint describes Clark as a Little Rock resident and taxpayer.
The base of the monument was removed around May 3, 2021, according to the complaint, which argues that the city's action violated a 2021 state law that took effect April 28, 2021.
[Read the lawsuit filed against the city » arkansasonline.com/112companya]
Act 1003 of 2021, titled the Arkansas State Capitol and Historical Monument Protection Act, bars the removal or relocation of historical monuments on public property, including those commemorating the Civil War, for a period of 60 days or more absent a waiver from the Arkansas History Commission.
Another element of McCutchen's complaint deals with a 2017 easement from the city to the state associated with the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism's Historic Preservation Program, as well as a subsequent 2020 settlement agreement between Little Rock and the state.
A $100,000 state grant to the city was meant to support repair work on the facade of the Tower Building of the former Little Rock Arsenal, which houses the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History. The grant was contingent upon the 2017 easement, according to documents included with the complaint.
According to a copy of the 2020 settlement agreement between the city and the state, the two sides disagreed over whether the "temporary removal" of the monument to Company A violated certain covenants, the department's rights tied to the easement or other historic preservation interests of the state.
The two sides had opted to "fully settle and resolve any and all claims and counterclaims that could be asserted in litigation" with regard to the monument's removal, the agreement said.
The city agreed to pay $45,000 to the Foundation for Arkansas Heritage and History to fund a new statue of Daisy L. Gatson Bates to be placed in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall, according to the agreement.
The agreement also set a deadline of Dec. 31, 2022, for the city to work with the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism in order to have the monument to Company A installed at an "appropriate location" unless both parties mutually came to a different decision.
"We will continue to work with any interested parties in order to relocate the statue to a viable location," Little Rock mayoral spokesman Aaron Sadler wrote in an email Wednesday when asked for comment on the complaint. "As to the lawsuit, the City does not comment on pending litigation."
In May 2021, McCutchen said he intended to file a lawsuit against Little Rock to force the city to comply with Act 1003 if the three Confederate markers were not returned. At the time, Little Rock City Attorney Tom Carpenter disputed McCutchen's legal reasoning as well as the constitutionality of Act 1003.
McCutchen has previously sued the city of Fort Smith in 2021 over the removal of seven flags, including the Confederate flag, from an outdoor display, citing Act 1003.