HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - Work is underway on a memorial to honor a Mississippi voting rights activist killed when the Ku Klux Klan firebombed his home.

WDAM-TV reports that a statue of Vernon Dahmer, who died in 1966, will be the centerpiece of a new plaza at the Forrest County Courthouse to honor him and other local civil rights leaders.

The television station says the bronze Dahmer sculpture was recently cast. Landscaping work at the plaza and the construction of a base for the statue is to begin soon.

Forrest County Board of Supervisors president David Hogan says a short wall that will double as a bench will feature a Dahmer quote: “If You Don’t Vote, You Don’t Count.”

A total of $120,000 in public and private funds have been contributed for the project.

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Information from: WDAM-TV, http://www.wdam.com

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