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Posted on 04/02/2004 5:49:12 PM PST by technochick99
WELLINGTON — Two legs dangle from the ceiling, empty beer cans litter the floor and suicide notes are displayed prominently on a nearby table.
It’s a scene now featured in the storefront of Special Effects, a video and printing store in downtown Wellington.
Storeowner Chris Goran said almost all of her customers have thought the display is amusing.
But others, such as Wellington’s mayor, aren’t laughing. Mayor Barbara O’Keefe said she has received numerous complaints about it.
“People calling me didn’t think it was funny at all,” O’Keefe said. “Some of them with kids were very offended.”
Wellington artist David Bennett designed the scene for Goran. He meant it to be creative and humorous. Accompanying the scene is a sign that reads, “Contemplating suicide? Let Special Effects give your suicide note that professional look.”
On the nearby table are two suicide notes. One is very short and scrawled on a piece of notebook paper, while the other is lengthy and printed in a professional manner.
The point of the scene is to draw attention to the printing services offered at Special Effects. Bennett, who last year designed a Christmas scene for the storefront, came up with the suicide idea himself and ran it by Goran.
Looking over his work, Bennett said, “I thought, what if there were this actual service, for writing suicide notes. To me, it’s a piece of art. If you don’t like it, don’t look at it. I find it entertaining and amusing.” He said the scene is tame compared to what kids experience by watching movies and playing gory video games. “I don’t think there’s a kid on this planet who would consider committing suicide because of something they saw in a storefront window,” he said.
The scene has been displayed at Special Effects for a week. Goran said she will probably keep it up for another two weeks.
The only negative comment Goran has heard came from an anonymous caller.
“(The caller) told me they were offended and they thought I should remove it,” Goran said.
“I suppose if it was offending customers of mine, I would reconsider leaving it up.”
O’Keefe said there’s no sense in arguing with Goran. “Suicide is a sensitive subject. I don’t see any humor in suicide,” O’Keefe said.
Village Solicitor Steve Bond said no one from the village has contacted him about the display. He said there probably isn’t much he could do about it anyway. “First amendment is the first issue we’d have to address. There isn’t any ordinance I know of off the top of my head, except maybe poor taste,” Bond said.
Bennett, meanwhile, is planning his next storefront scene. He wouldn’t say what it would be, but did say it would be a “companion piece” to the current scene.
Contact Dave Perozek at 329-7119 or dperozek@chronicletelegram.com. Contact Rini Caudill at 329-7217 or rcaudill@chronicletelegram.com.
I wrote a letter to the editor in which I gave my POV that life must be treated with humor.
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But where is the humor in teen/youth suicide or any suicide for that matter?
Th display is in extremely bad taste.
I serve in the Reserves so that Americans can have extremely bad taste.
/john
Thank you sir.
The ability to laugh at the worst of situations is a gift, more laughing, less nannies.
The ability to laugh at the worst of situations is a gift, more laughing, less nannies.
True, I wouldn't be too thrilled at people ridiculing the fact that my own father committed suicide (and that I was the one that found him), but there's certainly a difference between this display and real life.
I served on active duty, and many of my family did for the same reasons, to preserve individual American liberty.
It sure stinks when this happens. I poo on those who mistreat their liberty. Mega-poo.
/john
"For he that sheds his blood with me today shall be my brother..."
This day shall gentle his condition;
Make him a member of the gentry, even if he is a commoner.
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
I'm hoping for a birthday present in October.
/john
Advertisement is art.
/john
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