Posted on 10/20/2005 11:09:48 AM PDT by Millee
An Ellettsville family whose home is decorated for Halloween contacted police after someone placed on its porch a flier that suggests Halloween praises the devil.
Dalene Gully told Indianapolis television station WRTV that she took offense to the flier, which was placed outside her home by the House of Prayer Church of Bloomington.
"I started reading it, and I was very, very upset by it. I found it very accusatory and very threatening," Gully said.
The church's pastor, Larry Mitchell, said the people who left the flier would have preferred to talk with Gully, but she wasn't there.
Mitchell said the church didn't intend to upset the Gully family, but rather tell people that Halloween isn't harmless fun.
"Halloween is not fantasy," Mitchell said. "We're training up our children, and obviously this lady was trained up in this. Halloween seems like it is taking just as much prominence as Christmas."
The Gully family filed a complaint with the Ellettsville Police Department. The incident also prompted the family to install an alarm system at the home, the station reported.
"This is my home, and I like Halloween. If I want to decorate my home, I have every right to decorate my home," Gully said.
And if some trick-or-treater's TP her front lawn, egg her windows, and throw a cherry bomb in her jack-o-lantern, that's all part of the fun, right?
I think if it's not posted as such and they don't have to go through a gate it's not legally trespassing.
But once the no trespassing sign goes up and they ignore it, I say turn the garden hose on 'em.
An Ellettsville family whose home is decorated for Halloween contacted police after someone placed on its porch a flier that suggests Halloween praises the devil.What a lame trick ...
"How anyone can decide if it was threatening or not without the text of the letter is beyond me."
Exactly. It was poor judgment.
I simply choose not to have my family participate in Halloween.
A better move would have been to leave a letter inviting the family to church.
I have a feeling if it were a Planned Parenthood flyer there might be some different replies.
What about Christmas, which is clearly a reworked winter solstice festival? Or Easter, a spring fertility festival (rabbits, eggs)?
And do you have a source for the jack-o-lantern human sacrifice fat thing? Not doubting you (well, maybe a bit), but I've never heard that one before. Everything I find in a quick search talks about an Irish 18th Century tradition (and I think they'd given up human sacrifice by then), or an older pagan tradition of carrying home an ember of the Samhain bonfire in a hollowed out turnip.
Forget the police and alarm system. Just nail 97 pumpkins to the churchhouse door and be done with it.
This lady needs to read this offensive article:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1505909/posts
There always seems to be at least one person, somewhere, that can find something demonic, in just about anything.
Do you ever get flyers in your mailbox? Carwash discount? Free pedicure? "Free" Condo in Ft Lauderdale?
Do you complain about these flyers? If not why not? Perhaps because it would be an over-reaction?
If she has a real problem, she can post a No Trespass sign and then she might be able to make a case. But she's a whiner in my book.
I take offense that people feel the liberty to post ANY kind of flier on my property...whether home or vehicle. I throw them away with an attitude and I get over it. What a bunch of weak-kneed, spineless simpletons that can't address these matters without involving the media. There must not be many people left who grasp the concept of a free country.
Here's a clue....if you don't agree with it, then don't buy into it, throw the flier away and get on with your life. If you're that distraught over such a minor thing, could be it's touching a nerve you don't want disturbed. If it is a matter of conscience, then perhaps you need to be looking inward instead of attacking the messenger.
John 13:34,35
I personally am irked at all the junk mail I get, which includes ads for supermarket sale days, left on my doorknob in plastic baggies.
If I really wanted to stop the doorknob baggies, I guess I should post my property. Mrs. I-Feel-Offended should do the same.
"And if some trick-or-treater's TP her front lawn, egg her windows, and throw a cherry bomb in her jack-o-lantern, that's all part of the fun, right?"
Usually, the decorated houses get a pass. Once this gets out, I expect the church will be doing a lot of cleaning on the 1st.
Jeez, when ya say it like that, it just sounds so wrong....
They still need to be subjected to a Diet of Gummi Worms.
"Leaving threatening letters..."
Did the article actually say the letter was "treatening"? I expect it was more informational than threatening. If the truth upsets them, well... the truth upsets all of us at different times throughout our lives. We move on.
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