Residents Ask for Reprieve for Surfer Madonna

COAST NEWS GROUP
By Wehtahnah Tucker

CALIFORNIA - A few residents urged City Council on April 27 to grant amnesty to a surfing Madonna mosaic secretly installed under a railroad trestle along one of the town’s busiest roadways. The speakers requested that the piece of art be left alone to adorn the city’s main entrance. “It fits the definition of graffiti,” said Richard Phillips, assistant city manager. Several people asked the council to let it remain in place for at least 90 days and urged the city to grant amnesty to the mosaic’s creators if they step forward and admit that they made it. “As vandals go, we are dealing with a highly evolved species here,” Leucadia resident Kathleen Lees said. She said she considered the mosaic to be lovely and beautifully installed. [link]