The American Press in Lake Charles ran an article by Shawn Martin, Sunday, Feb. 5, updating the effort to donate the Port Hudson Confederate Soldier's Monument to the Port Hudson State Historic Site, free of charge to the state. To summarize the article, the supporters want to donate it and dedicate it at the annual reenactment March 25-26. However the lieutenant governor, who is over Louisiana State Parks, continues to refuse it and won't discuss it any further with them. Obviously the matter is at a standstill. I'm not sure why the state doesn't want it, but excuses include not wanting to accept any further monuments that can be placed on state historic sites. Also, the National Park Service did a study about the monument, and found it to be a worthy historical object, but made several recommendations, none of which seemed practical or resolved the problem. The article states the lieutenant governor's office didn't return calls to the American Press.The 11,000 pound monument was placed by the Louisiana Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1930 on a part of the battlefield that was on private property. Since then, the property was posted and inaccessible to the public and the property owner wanted the monument removed due to trespass and potential liability problems. Anyway, it was removed from the private property and the monument is being kept at a temporary location.