Police remove sign deriding Obama from Brookfield's town center

By Patrick W. Connelly
Herald Staff Writer

BROOKFIELD June 23, 2008 08:53 pm

— A sign making a mockery of Sen. Barack Obama’s bid for the presidency was removed Monday morning from Brookfield’s town center, police said.
The crudely rendered sign called presumptive Democratic Party nominee Obama’s attempt to became the first African-American president a “conquest for the planet of the apes.”
It was seen around 7 a.m. in Brookfield Center by a patrolman and was promptly removed, police Chief Dan Faustino said.
In addition to being inappropriate and racist, the sign was removed because posting political signs in the square at Route 7 and Warren-Sharon Road isn’t allowed, he said.
“The township policy’s not to have any,” Faustino noted.
The chief said he doesn’t know who made or posted the sign and wasn’t sure if police will be able to track anyone down.
Besides mocking Obama, the sign also had a drawing of a monkey and called television personality Oprah Winfrey an “ape” as well.
The sign was destroyed at the police station and thrown away, Faustino said.