Oct 28, 2008 6:44 pm US/Pacific
Report: Secret Service Investigating Palin Effigy
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (CBS) ―
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A mannequin dressed as Sarah Palin hangs from a noose at a home in West Hollywood, Calif.
CBS
A harmless Halloween display or a federal case? The Secret Service is investigating.
The LA Times reported Wednesday that the Secret Service is looking into the display of an effigy, dressed up as Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, hung by a noose outside a West Hollywood home.
City officials, like Supervisor Mike Antonovich, are also investigating to find out if any local laws have been broken. Monday, West Hollywood Mayor Jeffrey Prang also called for the homeowners to take down the effigy.
Since CBS 2 and KCAL 9 first reported on this story over the weekend, it has touched off a firestorm of national TV coverage with pundits on all sides offering their partisan and non-partisan opinions.
The display has also attracted attention from all over Southern California, drawing residents from Whittier to Santa Monica armed with cameras.
One woman posed in front of the display, saying she wanted to use it for her Christmas cards, prompting a McCain-Palin supporter to angrily demand, "Would you put an effigy of your mother up there?"
Other passers-by simply find the display disturbing. One woman said, "it's putting the wrong message out to everyone."
The homeowners and creators of the display, Chad Michael Morissette and Mito Kwan, say the effigy is part of their Halloween art display and just in the spirit of the holiday.
One bystander, unhappy with the attention the display has garnered, said, "The thing that shocks me more than anything is, what if that was Obama? What would people say to that? That would automatically become a racist statement."
Morissette and Kwan say the display is protected by the Constitution as a simple example of their rights to free speech.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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