City Councilman calls effigy of Trump ‘shockingly vile,’ asks for investigation

[link to wane.com]



FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) A Fort Wayne City Councilman has denounced the controversial effigy of President Donald Trump hung from a tree by a U.S. Army veteran.

Geoff Paddock, who represents the city’s 5th District, said he was “absolutely appalled, disgusted, and angered” by the life-sized effigy of Trump hanging by a noose from a tree in the front yard of a home along Oakdale Drive. The Oakdale neighborhood falls within Paddock’s district.

An effigy of President Donald Trump hangs from a tree along Oakdale Drive in Fort Wayne.
An effigy of President Donald Trump hangs from a tree along Oakdale Drive in Fort Wayne.
Mike Cunningham told Newschannel 15 earlier this week that he hung the Trump doll by a noose with a Soviet Union flag in his front yard and attached a banner on his home that reads, “Trump is a disgrace to America and makes me ashamed I ever served,” but he has not said why. NewsChannel 15 reached out to him for additional comment, but he declined.

In a statement, Paddock called the display “a shockingly vile act” that is disrespectful to Trump and the office of the President of the United States and the history of the nation.

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“Such a disrespectful act is an affront to the beautiful and historic Oakdale Neighborhood as well, and the wonderful people who live there,” wrote Paddock, a Democrat. “This is an act that will not be tolerated by the neighborhood, and it is an act that should not be tolerated by any American.”

Paddock did not explain what he meant by “will not be tolerated.”

The councilman did say, however, that he would ask Cunningham to remove the display, and that he would ask the city’s Legal Department and Neighborhood Code Enforcement to look into the matter.

A Law Professor at Indiana Tech told NewsChannel 15 this week that the effigy was protected by Freedom of Speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which permits and protects speech as long as it is not a call to “imminent lawlessness.” Another Indiana Tech law professor, though, said the move could invite a visit from the Secret Service if construed as a direct threat to the president.