Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, October 15, 1993                   TAG: 9310150226
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By STEPHEN FOSTER and TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

CRASH CREATION A BIT TOO CRASS, SOME SAY

And some people in Christiansburg didn't think so either.

Christopher Cash says that when he and his four kids created a crash scene this week on the side of his rental property on Roanoke Street, they meant to send a message. They didn't mean to offend.

Problem is, Cash's depiction of a ghoulish alcohol-induced car wreck may have been too realistic.

Someone showed up at Cash's residence late Thursday, put the display on a tow truck, and hauled it off.

Police were at the scene and "they wouldn't tell me what was going on," Cash said. "But it's gone."

Christiansburg Police Chief Ron Lemons said police officers were there at the request of the owner of the property, Roger Woody. Lemons said the display was removed by someone hired by Woody.

Later Thursday night, Cash said he received a call from Woody, who told him that eviction papers would be filed.

Reached afterward, Woody had no comment on the eviction of Cash or the removal of the Halloween decoration.

Cash offered no apologies for the display. "It's in the spirit of Halloween," he said, "and if one person got the right message, then it was worth it."

The wreck, which was located about 20 feet off the road, depicted a car on its side with its roof awash in blood, with straw-stuffed body parts hanging from windows and crushed underneath. Beer cans were strewn about, and a sign at the rear warned of the dangers of drinking and driving. A floodlight sat in a tire off to the side to illuminate it at night.

"It looks really ghouly," Cash had said earlier. "I do it for Halloween every year because it fits and it sends a message for people not to drink and drive."

The wreck was so graphic the Police Department had been swamped with complaints, both from people who thought it was an actual accident and those who were disgusted by it.

Town Manager John Lemley said earlier Thursday that Cash had been asked to move the display. "You don't need that on a busy roadway like that. It's a distraction to the driving public."

Lemley said he considered the scene, regardless of intent, "not in altogether good taste."