Was it a political hit-and-run job?
A Wisconsin woman has labeled a city council “petty” for trying to fine her over $100 a day over a gory Halloween display depicting Donald Trump and Joe Biden on her lawn.
“I think it’s stupid and I even told them that,” Cherise Pfeifer, 42, told Kennedy News of the “fun sucking” proposed penalty. “It’s a Halloween decoration.”
The Wausau resident has become a fixture around town for festooning her property with handmade figures, faux tombstones and other extravagant holiday displays every Autumn.
“I’ve been doing insane Halloween decorations at my house for 10 years,” the-mother-of-two declared. “I’m known in the city for them and I make them all myself.
Several years ago, Pfeifer ramped up her decor repertoire with a scene depicting Trump and Biden involved in an imaginary car crash.
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This controversial crash scene is comprised of a real blue car on her lawn with a dummy “corpse” on the roof. A photo of Trump’s head is stuck inside the windshield behind the wheel, while a fake Joe Biden sits in the passenger seat.
“[In the scene] they hit an auto mechanic body that was created like they were angry that they hadn’t fixed the car right,” the insurance agent boasted.
While the town residents adored the wacky display, it fell into the crosshairs of the Wausau City Council, which claimed that parking the vehicle on the lawn violates one of the city’s municipal codes.
This ordinance prohibits people from parking cars on glass, stipulating that they must be parked in a driveway or other designated hard surface, per the organization’s website.
The council gave the Halloween buff until Oct. 22 to take them down and said they would fine her $122 every day until she acquiesced.
This proposition didn’t sit well with Pfeifer, who claimed: “I think it is 100 percent petty that I am having to remove this.”
The Wisconsinite argued that she didn’t violate the municipal code as she had clearly parked the car there as a “Halloween decoration” and not because she didn’t have enough space.
“I have room for eight cars on my driveway and I only currently have three parked there,” she argued. “It’s not like I can’t park it in my driveway.”
“‘You’re a fun sucker’. That’s what I called them [the council],” continued Pfeifer, who, after a battle with the council, eventually capitulated and removed the decoration.
The Badger State native believed that the measure may have been motivated by the upcoming presidential election as she’d had the display up in prior years sans incident.
“I don’t know if it is partially political this year because of who I had in the car,” said Pfeifer. “If the inspectors didn’t like one of the people that I put in the car, I could see them doing that.”
“It doesn’t make sense that they would come after me this year and not any of the other years,” she added.
Many commenters flocked to Pfeifer’s defense after she posted her plight on Facebook.
“And this is why people don’t do much for decorations for holidays anymore,” declared one defender. “The car isn’t hurting anyone. It’s simply part of the theme for the decorations. Wausau sucks man.”
Another fumed: “Dude’s a total fun snatcher. It isn’t hurting anyone. You obviously don’t have it [the car] there after the holiday. What a poor sport.”
However, others sided with the council with one writing, “The citation is for parking on the lawn. Not for decorations.”
“You can NOT park a vehicle on your lawn in the City of Wausau. Read your citation…duh,” said another.
However, Pfeifer claims the majority of people supported her and even urged her to appeal the ruling.
She is currently applying for a permit that would enable her to resurrect the car crash scene on Oct. 31st — although she’s not sure if they have Halloween exemptions.
“I might even get a big sign which reads, ‘The city made me take my car crash scene down,’” Pfeifer quipped.
