SALISBURY — The Rowan County Board of Commissioners voted during its Monday meeting to allow the Foundation Forward organization to move forward with building life-size replicas of the Charters of Freedom.

Ron Lewis, who works with the non-profit, said that the organization has put displays of the replica documents in communities throughout the nation. Those displays have included the three documents that make up the Charters of Freedom: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. 

The display would be provided to the county at no cost to the public, with Foundation Forward completely covering the expenses. Lewis said that he believed that the area outside of the West End Plaza would be perfect for the display but noted that he would need to get the construction side of the organization to decide on the location.

Lewis said that the organization has begun to include a document with the 13th, 14th, 15th, 19th and 24th amendments on it after hearing that some people believed that the display did not accurately represent the history of everyone in the nation.

“There was a young African-American man sitting about where (Craig) Pierce is, and he said to me, ‘Mr. Lewis, you did a great job with your presentation but you didn’t do anything for me.’ I took a step back and tried to hear what he was saying and take it in, as he was trying to help me. I went back to Morganton, sat around the table with all our staff and said ‘We have a problem.’ There’s a segment of our population, a very important segment, that doesn’t think we have recognized them,” Lewis said.

After hearing from the Union County commissioner that Lewis spoke about, the organization decided to place the fourth pedestal listing the “Civil Rights Amendments.”
Lewis said that once the best site for the display is identified the organization will craft a letter of intent, which will lay out what the non-profit will do in the county and what work the county will be expected to perform once the project is completed. Since the mall has been tentatively identified as the future location, the display would have to wait until the construction finishes. Lewis said that waiting was not a problem for Foundation Forward, noting that the organization had approximately 20 other counties on the waiting list.

“I look forward to building the Charters of Freedom in your beautiful county and we’ll have a fun day when we dedicate the Charters of Freedom to the school kids, the leaders and the future leaders of Rowan County,” Lewis said.

Commissioner Mike Caskey said that he believed the old mall was the perfect place for the display, noting that the county’s veteran affairs office is in the building and that the county was already planning to place a flag pole in an area outside.

“God lines up things when he wants them done, so I think we’re in a good place and this is a good organization. Our kids need to be able to see these things and know these things exist,” Caskey said.

At the end of Lewis’ presentation and the following discussion the commissioners voted unanimously to allow Foundation Forward to build a display in Rowan County.