Halloween dummies removed

FREDERICK, Md. | City Hall reluctantly ordered three scarecrow-like dummies removed from the branches of a city park tree Friday after the NAACP said the dangling Halloween figures evoked offensive images of lynchings.

Republican Mayor Jeff Holtzinger, reversing a stand he had taken earlier in the day, said he had the dummies cut down because news reports had made the central Maryland city of 59,000 seem racially biased.

“I just don’t want to have Frederick look bad,” Mr. Holtzinger said.

He said Frederick County NAACP President Guy Djoken had used the mannequins with their white pillowcase heads to create racial controversy.

“He got what he wanted. Now he’s giving Frederick a horrible image,” Mr. Holtzinger said.

Mr. Djoken praised Mr. Holtzinger for taking a broader view of the situation.

“Sometimes, looking from one angle, you will not see the whole picture,” he said.

Mr. Djoken said coverage of his Friday morning news conference in front of the towering weeping willow tree had made Mr. Holtzinger realize the dummies had to come down “for the greater good.”

The dummies, wearing plaid flannel shirts and blue jeans, had been hung earlier in the week by ropes tied around their torsos as part of a “Halloween in Baker Park” event running through Friday night. Mr. Holtzinger said they were meant to represent “some kind of ghostlike figures hanging from the tree.”

Late Friday afternoon, a worker repositioned the mannequins on a city park bench and at the bases of two trees.

Mr. Djoken said he had gotten about two dozen complaints since the spooky, nighttime park tours started Wednesday. He first asked Mr. Holtzinger on Thursday to change the display.