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

DATE: TUESDAY, November 30, 1993                   TAG: 9311300027
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LITTLE ROCK, ARK.                                LENGTH: Medium

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! SEE YOU IN COURT

For years, Jennings and Mitzi Osborne have caused traffic jams as they've dazzled passersby with their ever-growing Christmas displays, which twinkle with more than a million lights.

But when the couple bought the houses next door to expand their display, neighbors decided they had had enough electrified holiday cheer. Their lawsuit, demanding that the Osbornes pull the plug, went to trial Monday.

The Osbornes say their light show, begun in 1986, is their constitutionally protected way of sharing the season's cheer.

They haven't disclosed their electric bill, but one year they blew a transformer and blacked out part of their neighborhood.

The lawsuit was filed after the Osbornes, who own a medical testing laboratory, strung 1.6 million lights last year and bought the houses on both sides of them with the promise of a bigger spectacle this year.

"It involves the construction and operation of an enormous and spectacular Christmas light display, in a residential area, of such size and extravagance that it has become a tourist attraction," attorney Gary Corum said in his opening statement on behalf of the neighbors who are suing.

The Osbornes' lawyer, Sam Perroni, said shutting down the display would violate his clients' First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and religion.

He said that apart from the normal increase in Christmastime traffic, neighbors suffer no harm from the display. The Osbornes' house-turned-Christmas-card sits on a thoroughfare designated as a state highway and heavily used by suburban commuters.

Pulaski County Chancery Judge Ellen Brantley admonished all parties to "recognize the spirit of the season, keep a cheerful outlook and keep tempers under control."

Last year's light show included miles of red lights draped over the house, yard and brick wall. Christmas-tree-shaped masts of lights towered 80 feet above the house. The Osbornes haven't disclosed their electric bill, but one year they blew a transformer and blacked out part of their neighborhood.

This year's display has that, and more.

by CNB