Obama sign causes stir in Redgranite

REDGRANITE - Cars stop on Highway 21. Drivers stop and take pictures.

The new attraction in Redgranite? A controversial sign.

It reads: "Hang in there Obama,” next to a picture of a noose.

"A lot of people find it offensive,” said Rachel Kern, who lives across the street. "It’s definitely a very big eye catch to people driving past."

From further away, you can really only read the larger print that says “HANG OBAMA” in bold, red letters. You can see the outline of the noose. But if you get up close, you can see the smaller print that says, “in there.” And this message has some people confused.

"I’m not really sure if it's supposed to be for Obama or against him. Because if you actually read it, it's like, ‘keep up the fight.’ But with the noose, it doesn't exactly say, ‘keep up the fight,’ at the same time,” said Kern.

"That got your attention. It got you to look at the sign,” said Thomas Savka, who made the sign.

He claims he's actually pro-Obama. He says he even put that in small print in the corner of the sign.

"It's my attitude for it. Everybody's picking on Obama. It's the attitude of 'hang in there, buddy!' It isn't over ‘til you're done kicking,” said Savka.

Some who stopped to take pictures say with a picture of a noose, the sign has racial implications of lynching. The sign maker says that wasn't his intent.

"This has nothing to do with color. It's to get people's attention. If they're taking that direction from it, they're not reading the sign,” said Savka.

Neighbors say despite freedom of speech, it's in poor taste.

"He could have just put it on there without the noose,” said Kern.

Regardless of how it's read, the message of this sign certainly has captured the community's attention.

A spokesperson from the Obama campaign released a statement about the sign. It said: "This type of imagery is inappropriate and has no place in public discourse around elections."