When first I heard about this story, it seemed quite funny. A 6 foot high penis was created from the recently deposited Hudson Valley snow. The “artist” is a local 19 year old girl. One would assume that she was only engaging in some winter frivolity.
But the more I learned, the more disturbing this little story became. Here is the link with the story and photos.
Apparently, at least some individuals were sufficiently upset to call the local police to come have a look. And come the police did.
“We got some calls that people thought it was offensive,” said New Windsor police Chief Michael Biasotti. “We assumed it was some kids who did it.”
Officers found no one home. Assuming the snow sculpture was more prank than nod to Christmas’ pagan roots, the police knocked it down. Beat it down with shovels, actually.
Jessica Sherer, the young creator of the statue, came to the scene later that day. She discovered immediately what had occurred.
“We came back around 11 in the morning, and it was just a pile of snow,” recalled Sherer, 19. “Just some shovel marks.”
Without prior notice to the owner, New Windsor police officers entered private property and destroyed the display. There were no emergent circumstances justifying this intrusion. Any police action should have been withheld until the owner was present, or at least until notice could have been provided. But surely there must have been some great overriding public policy you say.
No citations or criminal violations will be issued for the display, Biasotti said. The town codes prohibit lewd signs on businesses, but don’t mention anything about public snow sculptures.
“We probably weren’t 100 percent correct in going on the property and knocking it down,” New Windsor Town Supervisor George Meyers said. “But our intentions were pure. Some people were offended. There are school buses going by there all day.”
Ahh yes, I see it clearly now. The police had pure intentions to protect the public from a potentially lewd snow sculpture. Apparently in New Windsor, the police are charged with determining what constitutes a “lewd” display. And apparently the accurate depiction of a body organ falls under the heading of lewd. This is so despite New York case law which states that display of a bare female breast is not, in and of itself, lewd. But apparently New Windsor police can’t be bothered with statutes and other such trivia. The penis had to go. And it had to go now. It was immediately struck down because it was lewd and it might only be the first of many of its kind.
Biasotti worries the display might give others ideas. “Now we’re going to get snow penises popping up all over town,” he said.
And the girl’s explanation?
“We just did it because we were really bored, and we thought it’d be funny,” she said. “It was huge.”