Woman's holiday lights flip off neighbors

NEW ORLEANS -- A Louisiana woman ran afoul of police when she gave her neighbors an unusual holiday greeting, hanging Christmas lights in the shape of a middle finger.

Sarah Childs was in a dispute with some of her neighbors in Denham Springs, just east of Baton Rouge, so she decided to send a message with her decorations. Neighbors complained and police threatened to arrest her, so she and the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana sued the city.

A judge ruled in her favor Thursday.

"I imagine it will be back up before too long," ACLU of Louisiana executive director Marjorie Esman said of the display.

Childs erected the lights on her roof last month. She has removed them twice -- once after a police officer told her she could be fined and again after another officer threatened to arrest her, her lawsuit said.

U.S. District Judge James Brady issued an order temporarily barring city officials from interfering with the display, saying it would violate her rights to free speech and due process. He scheduled a Jan. 7 hearing in Baton Rouge.

Denham Springs attorney Paeton Burkett said the city will comply, but otherwise declined to comment.

The suit said the police department dispatched an officer to Childs' home after several neighbors complained directly to the mayor. The officer told Childs she would be violating the city's "obscenity statute" but Denham Springs doesn't have an obscenity statute, the suit said.

Childs removed the lights but put them back up after the ACLU defended her in an open letter to the city. That time, the display showed two hands with extended middle fingers.