Is this SC couple’s Halloween decoration too ‘lewd?’ Columbia orders it removed. What do you think?
Sarah Kelley loves to decorate her lawn for holidays.
Last year for Halloween she bought inflatable skeletons that are, well, attached at the hips. What they’re doing could be up for debate, but the city of Columbia determined they are engaged in a “coital act.”
On Thursday afternoon a notice signed by Code Enforcement Officer Richard Blackmon Jr. was left at the house, ordering Kelley and her partner Nate Bell to get the decoration off their Live Oak Street lawn.
“They don’t have parts,” said Bell, who is an associate professor at The University of South Carolina.
Kelley, who works for a non-profit organization, called the city’s action overreaching and pointed out there were much more serious problems facing the world right now like unhoused people, bad roads, food insecurity and inequities among races.
The notice said if they didn’t take them down by Friday afternoon, they could be required to appear in municipal court, fined, serve jail time or a lien placed on their property.
And Halloween is Monday. They would have taken the display down shortly after the holiday anyway, Kelley said.
Bell talked to Blackmon and decided to take the skeletons down before an inspector came out Friday afternoon.
“He was super nice,” Bell said.
Blackmon said in a phone interview with The State he had had six complaint calls plus others had called a code inspector and the police. If summoned to court, he would have faced a $470 bond, which if he was found guilty would have been forfeited.
“We have had 400 favorable responses on Facebook,” Bell said.
They don’t know who made those calls, but have asked their immediate neighbors, who responded with a plan for each homeowner to take a turn hosting the skeletons. They’ve also offered to start a gofundme page to raise money if a fine is imposed.
Bell said the inflatable baby in a camo diaper is a lot scarier than the $40 skeletons that anyone no matter what age can buy on Amazon, which, by the way, is sold out of them.
Bell said he’s surprised they haven’t been stolen.
Kelley said some good has come out of the situation, though.
“This whole debacle has created joy and fun in the neighborhood.” she said. ”There’s a lot of darkness in the world. It’s been kind of good.”
Hundreds of people have come by after seeing her post about the notice on the Rosewood Riff Raff Facebook page. Kelly thinks that’s probably where the people who complained saw an earlier photo someone else posted.
Kelley and Bell will start decorating for Christmas shortly after Thanksgiving. All rated G.
But then, Kelley said and laughed, maybe she needs to check out what else Amazon has for sale.
