Law grad fights to keep up skeleton decorations year-round
A Tennessee woman who refused to remove her 8-foot skeleton and its skeleton dog from her front yard is facing not only a citation but a court summons. (Photo from Shutterstock)
A Tennessee woman who refused to remove her 8-foot skeleton and its skeleton dog from her front yard is facing not only a citation but a court summons.
Alexis Luttrell, who is 48 years old and has a law degree, lives in Germantown, Tennessee, a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee. She put up the pair of skeletons for Halloween and then decided to incorporate them in her Election Day and Christmas decor.
In early December, Luttrell received a notice that she violated a city ordinance limiting the display of holiday decorations. According to the ordinance, decorations can be installed within 45 days of the holiday for which they are intended. They must be removed no later than 30 days after the holiday.
Luttrell, who dressed the skeleton in a red-and-green tutu and the dog in a Christmas tree hat, is arguing that the decorations were meant for Christmas, and that the time period for removing them has not ended.
“When it’s up for interpretation for the code, courts err on the side of expression,” Luttrell told WREG, a CBS affiliate, which first reported on the dispute. “So for this code enforcement person to be saying these don’t count as Christmas decorations or what will soon be Valentine’s Day decorations, that is really overreaching.”
The New York Times has additional coverage.
Luttrell works in health care compliance for a pharmaceutical company, and according to LinkedIn, she graduated from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law in 2006.
She is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 13. She told WREG that she plans to fight the citation and heard from several attorneys after posting on Facebook that she needed legal representation.
Cameron Ross, the director of the city’s Economic and Community Development Department, told the New York Times in an email that Luttrell could “put the skeletons away until next September (45 days before Halloween) and only be responsible for court costs, rather than any potential fines.”
Ross also told the New York Times that the city prosecutor and the judge will decide on penalties after Luttrell’s hearing. Eight other residents were issued similar citations in December; he said Luttrell is the only one who chose not to take down her skeletons.
Luttrell is already looking ahead, telling the New York Times that she hopes to also dress up the skeletons for St. Patrick’s Day, Easter and Pride Month.
