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Updated: 9:25 PM Jun 19, 2009
Gallows Display Has District Attorney & Others Concerned
A roadside display with mannequins depicting judges, the sheriff and the district attorney with nooses around the necks has raised some eyebrows in Duplin County.
Posted: 4:49 PM Jun 18, 2009 |
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63 Comments 
Authorities in Duplin County say they are caught between first amendment rights and hate speech concerns.
This after a Faison man erected a huge roadside display which shows government officials hung in effigy. The display is on Warren Road, between Faison and Warsaw.
District Attorney Dewey Hudson, who is one of those officials, says state, local and federal authorities are now investigating. He says he'll meet with the county sheriff, who is also represented in the display, to see if anything can be done.
Hudson says while property owner Lacy Phipps has first amendment rights, he is concerned that the display is almost like hate speech.
Phipps told reporters he put up the gallows to bring attention to his problems with the government and says he doesn't want to physically harm anyone.
Latest Comments
I hope one day to be in a gated community. If I were you, I'll say to miketyndal... "Security, do not let anyone in without my permission, if they get past you, blow out all four tires, with the shotgun, and call the police." Sheriff, You are welcome. miketydnal, do you wish to live in a gated community?
To Cactus, "DON'T GET IT TWISTED." The display was a form of ignorance. It represented past slavery symbolism. The fight that was endured by ALL Civil Rights Activist was not in vain.I will not sit by and say, "oh, well. He did it to prove a point." If anyone believes that the "noose" was a simple rope, must not be familiar with history or the civil rights laws. Mr. Phillips and his family made a very poor choice about items they decided to use as props to degrade those in authority. However, I am not insensitive to their fight for justice of a murdered child, but they handled their situation wrong, which it has offended me very much. The freedom that I was given will never be casually disregarded by someone who may later say, "opps, I'm sorry." The display was an offensive hate symbolism. I hope that Mr. Phillips is prosecuted to the fullest, so the next person may not "get it twisted" in proving their point.
blake wallace was not sheriif when these hillbillies started acting up in the 80's.you want justice served, but with no evedence the defendants will go free. then what,condem the legal system for charging a person with no evedence? they are sneaky , sneaky , sneaky. you don't know them like the legal community knows them. trust me!! if they lived in your county , they would try everything they could everytime a new sheriff comes in. just give them time, they will do anything, believe me , there is no life guard in the phipps "gene pool"
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