'Raunchy' Christmas deer light display brings complaints
By Amber Weston, Standard-Examiner correspondent
HARRISVILLE -- It's a redneck Christmas on Larsen Lane where Isaac Oberg has created a unique outdoor display.
Oberg, a self-proclaimed redneck, has three lighted Christmas deer in his yard. One deer is hanging from a tree with red lights representing flowing entrails, and two are stacked on top of each other simulating copulation with red lights representing male genitalia.
Oberg said he wanted to do something different for Christmas and the idea just popped into his head.
"I get a lot of humor out of it," said Oberg. "All last year I heard people all over ask, "Hey, you see that deer over on Larsen Lane?' "
The city began receiving complaints about the deer last year when Oberg first built the display.
"People are mostly concerned that kids might see it," said City Recorder Jennifer Morrell.
Several complaints have come from North Ogden and Harrisville, but city officials aren't going to ask Oberg to remove the display.
"Although I find it a tasteless Christmas decoration, I would not condone the government entering someone's private property and violating their constitutional rights and removing the Christmas decoration," said City Administrator Bill Morris. "This is Harrisville. We're not Tehran, Iran."
Harrisville City Attorney Mike Junk echoed Morris's statement and said that although he finds the display to be raunchy, it is not a prosecutable criminal act. Junk also pointed out that Harrisville boasts a large deer hunting population.
"You can go out in the nature and see it, why not here too?" said Oberg. "Just about everywhere you look you can see it goin' on."
Oberg said that when his 4-year-old nephew asked what the deer were doing, the boy's mother told him they were playing piggyback.
Oberg doesn't know whether any of his neighbors find the display offensive. Most haven't spoken with him about it, and the ones who have find it humorous.
Last year he was afraid the city would ask him to remove the display, but since they haven't he plans to add to the display next year. He says the display isn't so much about Christmas as it is about doing something unusual.
"I figured it was something I wanted to do to be different," said Oberg.
