Mayor: Cut thumbs off graffiti artists

/>Friday, November 4, 2005; Posted: 11:00 a.m. EST (16:00 GMT)
From AP -
“The mayor of Las Vegas has suggested that people who deface freeways with
graffiti should have their thumbs cut off on television.

“In the old
days in France, they had beheadings of people who commit heinous crimes,” Mayor
Oscar Goodman said Wednesday on the TV show “Nevada Newsmakers.”

/>Goodman said the city has a beautiful highway landscaping project and “these
punks come along and deface it.”

“I’m saying maybe you put them on TV
and cut off a thumb,” the mayor said. “That may be the right thing to do.”
/>
Goodman also suggested whippings should be brought back for children who
get into trouble.

Another panelist on the show, state university
system regent Howard Rosenberg, said cutting off the thumbs of taggers won’t
solve the problem and Goodman should “use his head for something other than a
hat rack.”