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Lightning Strikes Monument Honoring Confederate President

parks.ky.gov

As Kentucky officials began considering what to do with a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in the state Capitol, lightning struck a concrete obelisk that stands at his birthplace in western Kentucky.

WHAS-TV reports chunks of the obelisk went flying when it was struck in Fairview, about 200 miles away from Frankfort.

Spokesman Gil Lawson of the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet said the monument had minor damage from the strike Friday but no structural damage. No injuries were reported.

A day earlier, the state Historic Properties Advisory Commission agreed to seek input from the public and art and history experts about the fate of the Capitol statue.

Several state leaders have endorsed moving the Davis statue in response to a shooting rampage that killed nine black people in a South Carolina church.

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