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Daily News
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The Jeepers Lynch Mob
According to some African American residents, a Gulf coast Florida bar known for its annual Halloween decorations may have gone a bit too far this year.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at 11:45 PM
By FilmStew Staff
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MyFoxTampaBay.com
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Creeping people out
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The 2001 horror film Jeepers Creepers left more than a trail of low-priced DVDs and late night cable TV airings in south Florida. Filmed on location in Bushnell, Ocala and other regions of the state, it is being remembered this Halloween season in a most questionable fashion.
A prop from the movie of a bloodied man dangling by a noose is hanging outside Tampa’s Softails Tavern in Crystal Lake, Florida, a hamlet up the Gulf coast from Tampa Bay, as part of their annual decorative tribute to the trick or treat holiday. But several African American neighbors have complained that it raises the specter of southern lynching and have deemed the display distasteful.
“Lynching is something the south should never be proud of," Crystal River resident Ernie Thomas tells local TV affiliate FOX 13. But, counters bar co-owner Chantal Dolata: “It's just a Halloween decoration. That's all it is.”
Even though the dummy is clearly Caucasian, it has still managed by the potency of the lynching image to raise the ire of African Americans. But despite several complaints, the local Sheriff’s office has indicated that since Softails is on private property, its proprietors have the right to do as they please. To wit, they have no plans to take down the decoration until, at the earliest, this Thursday November 1st.
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