May 9, 2005

Big lie  

Last Thursday night the image of Mary under the Kennedy Expressway (aka Our Lady of the Underpass) here in Chicago was defaced by a true believer with shoe polish. The man responsible has since been charged with "criminal damage to state supported property":

Gonzalez, 37, told relatives he believed visitors were worshipping a graven image in violation of the Second Commandment, said Mandy Gonzalez, who identified herself as Gonzalez's niece.

On Friday, Chicago police directed transportation workers to paint over the image with brown paint for safety reasons.

Painting over the whole thing with brown paint seems bizarre, unless maybe it's the standard procedure for dealing with graffiti on city property. But if that's the case, I don't understand what safety had to do with it. Maybe the idea was that the graffiti might make those who believe in the image angry -- but then isn't covering it with paint throwing out the baby with the bathwater?

As the last article explains, the shoe polish and brown paint have since been removed by a couple of big-hearted carwash employees. I suppose this is great for all the believers out there, but doesn't taking down that brown paint also constitute "criminal damage to state supported property"?

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