Clermont police interview suspect in Obama 'Joker' posters
 A poster of President Obama is seen at the S.R. 50 underpass in Clermont. (TOM BENITEZ, ORLANDO SENTINEL / August 12, 2009) |
CLERMONT - Clermont police have interviewed one suspect who is admitting to putting up the dozens of posters pasted around the city depicting President Obama as the Joker character from the Batman film The Dark Knight, city officials confirmed.
Assistant City Manager Darren Gray said city officials have an individual "admitting to putting up 500" of the posters.
Clermont Police Capt. Eric Jensen said the male individual has admitted to putting up some signs, but investigators suspect others were involved and their investigation is continuing.
"We have talked to an individual," Jensen said. "He only admitted to some of it...We're still tracking down leads and talking to folks. We have not arrested anybody."
At this point officials are not sure how much damage was caused by the signs or the dollar amount associated with the clean-up.
Dozens of the posters were pasted around the city earlier this week. A pair of the posters were pasted to a Clermont Post Office collection box. They prompted the postmaster to contact the Postal Inspector's office, which is looking at potential federal crimes for defacing federal property.
City officials, meanwhile, are trying to determine what local crimes might be associated with the posting of the images on public and private properties. They've also been busy ripping down the sticky signs because they're a violation of city ordinance regarding illegal signs.
Jensen said he doesn't have a good count on the number of posters put up because, he said, "People are going out and tearing them down."
In a press release put out late today, Jensen said the suspect "also asked if he could video tape the encounter with the officers." Clermont Police declined that request.
"Currently we are still conducting interviews of victims, witnesses, and other suspects who were placing the Obama Joker Poster throughout our city," Jensen said in the statement. "We believe that the postings are the result of multiple suspects. We are hopeful that we can develop enough information to present charges of vandalism to the State Attorney's Office for review."
He did not have a specific reason why the individual who admitted to putting up the posters spent so much time sticking them to surfaces around the city, but Jensen suspects it may have something to do with a contest linked to the image of the President in white face and smeared lipstick, like the Joker.
Check back for more details.
4 comments:
A poster on another site said, if free speech comes under concerted attack (like the Fairness Czar seems likely to do), it is Lexington and Concord.
Does the left really want that? Do they really think Americans would go quietly into that darkness?
I dunno. Did you see O'Reilly tonight? Laura I. was hosting and asked a Dem strategist (had been a Biden speechwriter - yes, yes, I know) a question about whether Palin's concerns over the Admin. applying the "complete lives" calculation in the context of government health care were valid.
I could NOT believe his answer. Honestly, just surreal - he said something like "well, I think we will see her hanging out with Flava Flav in a few years."
Refused to answer the question. Refused to discuss Zeke Emmanuel's philosophy and its impact on the current legislation, refused in any way to address any of the points raised in the Palin piece as articulated by Laura.
Just breathtaking.
It was just "shut up Laura." Just "shut up Palin." It could not have been more shocking to me had been in the studio and just backhanded her across the face.
Lexington and Concord indeed.
I hope and pray it does not come to that.
Ro
The First and Second Amendments protect each other.
I agree with your sentiment, Ro, but fear the worst.
The Socialists in charge may think Americans are a pushover but I think they will get a very rude and painful awakening. 230 + yrs of independent spirit will not go quietly.
Ro,
I so wish you would become a contributor to this site. Your comments are so cogent, and you bring so much good information.
I agree, if Cass Sunstein does what he says in his book, it is Lexington and Concord.
Oh, by the way, I heard a rumor. Now, it is just a rumor. A friend of a friend of mine told me Cass Sunstein likes to take it up the butt from 18 year old males that he meets in alleys down by the shoreline.
I can't substantiate the rumor, thus far.
However, I can say this. He looks like that kind of guy.
Patorius -
I stole the blurb below from from Michelle Malkin's site.
This is worse than Cass - this is a guy who has been appointed the "Diversity Officer" at the FCC.
This may be in our very, very near future. Oh - and the poster regarding Lexington and Concord was corrected by someone else saying it would be more like the Civil War. Ugh.
From Michelle Malkin's site:
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced a new “Chief Diversity Officer,” communications attorney Mark Lloyd.
But Doctor of Jurisprudence Lloyd is far more than merely a communications attorney. He was at one time a Senior Fellow at the uber-liberal Center for American Progress (CAP), for whom he co-wrote a June 2007 report entitled “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio.”
Which rails against the fact that the American people overwhelmingly prefer to listen to conservative (and Christian) talk radio rather than the liberal alternative, and suggests ways the federal government can remedy this free-market created “problem.”
* Restore local and national caps on the ownership of commercial radio stations.
* Ensure greater local accountability over radio licensing.
* Require commercial owners who fail to abide by enforceable public interest obligations to pay a fee to support public broadcasting.
These last two get perilously close to the use of “localism” to silence conservative (and Christian) radio stations, about which we have been warning for quite some time.
Post a Comment