Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway monument tarred and feathered

GOLD CANYON, Ariz. (KSAZ) - The Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway Monument that sits in the far East Valley has been tarred and feathered. An investigation is ongoing.

The monument sits near Gold Canyon along the U.S. 60, just north of the Renaissance Festival. The monument bears the name of Jefferson Davis, who was the first and only president of the Confederate States of America.

"Somebody had to put a little thought into it, but this is going to cost a lot of money to clean up," said John Rogers in Mesa.

The blackened and feathered monument drew some visitors. Some of them took a rather dim view of the damage.

"It is vandalism," said Tom Hill of Mesa. "This is state property. State property. It is vandalism. The state controls this."

This is the second monument to be defaced in the past several days. The Confederate Troops Memorial outside the Arizona Capitol was spray painted white sometime before Thursday morning.

Confederate monuments around the country have been removed or defaced since the weekend as the country grapples with a violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white nationalists and white supremacists protested plans to remove a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Black leaders have called for the removal of such monuments for several years, saying they glorify racism. 

>>SkyFOX video from the scene: facebook.com/FOX10Phoenix/videos/1474833285898547

The Associated Press contributed to this report.