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ROY — A Utah man says he won't take down a hanged man decoration that's part of his annual Halloween display, despite a complaint from the NAACP that the decoration simulates the lynching of African-Americans.
"When I was making it in the first place, it never crossed my mind at all, 'Hey, one day someone might take offense to it,'" Kevin Van Miltenberg said. "I don't make these to be offensive at all. I just make them for fun and for people to enjoy."
Van Miltenberg has been building animatronic displays for Halloween for the past six years, adding new lifesize decorations to his front yard each year. The 7-foot-tall hanged man — dressed in denim with a hood over its head and white plastic hands bound behind its back — was the first animatronic prop he built.
"I like to do stuff that's very realistic," Van Miltenberg said, as the hanged man spasmed repeatedly at the end of its rope. "I hooked it up to a simple windshield wiper motor and made it come to life. It's not to be offensive. It's a Halloween prop."
Van Miltenberg's display was one of several featured in a recent news article about Halloween attractions in northern Utah. He says the day after the article appeared in the Standard-Examiner, a reporter called him to say someone was offended by the hanged man and had contacted Roy police.
"It's been here for six years; no complaints," Van Miltenberg said. "This is people's No. 1 prop that they like. People take pictures with it. They take videos with it."
Rev. Stanley Ellington, president of the Ogden chapter of the NAACP, is the person who contacted police, according to the Standard-Examiner. He told the paper that, regardless of Van Miltenberg's intent, the hanged man is racially offensive and should be taken down.
Two messages left for Ellington on Tuesday seeking comment on the issue were not returned. In a statement, the NAACP said the decoration "makes a mockery of the history of lynchings in our country."
Roy police spokesman Matthew Gwynn confirmed Tuesday that the department received a complaint about Van Miltenberg's hanged man and an officer went to take a look at it. Gwynn said the department has since determined "this is not a government issue."
Van Miltenberg said he hasn't had anyone from the NAACP contact him personally to discuss their concern about his display. He isn't even sure if the person who complained to police has seen the hangman firsthand. He does know, however, that his hanged man isn't coming down.
"If I take this down, there will always be something else for someone to complain about," Van Miltenberg said. "When I decorate for Christmas and I put baby Jesus out in the Nativity, somebody's going to complain about it and I'm going to have to take that down."
