Barney Fife Statue Destroyed After Disagreement (Don Knotts)

[LiberalHeart]

MOUNT AIRY, NORTH CAROLINA (AP) -- A half-finished clay statue of Barney Fife has been destroyed, and the life of the man who comissioned it has been turned upside down. Tom Hellebrand wanted to put up the statue of Don Knotts' character from "The Andy Griffith Show" in Mount Airy, North Carolina, the town that's the model for Mayberry.

http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=5200751

[senseandsensibility]

1. ?

Couldn't there be both statues?

[LisaM]

2. What, his widow doesn't have rights?

LOL, of course, I never liked the character of Barney Fife, but really, I think you need to consult someone's family before you erect a statue to the person - and not really to the person, but to a buffoonish character.

[Leopolds Ghost]

9. Excuse me?? This is America -- we have freedom of expression.

You can't drag all that stuff about "we all have the right to be protected from stuff we don't like" into the mix. That's not freedom.

Much less "I have the right to any likeness of my husband in any media". "How could so and so do such and such without consulting the appropriate scribes and oracles and respected widows and liege lords and other authorities?" Jesus Christ. What's happening to this country?

[Bake]

3. Seems a rather silly thing for such an argument

But then, maybe no sillier than some of the arguments here.

Bake

[snappyturtle]

4. Human nature...never ceases to amaze me.

Is it any wonder nations can't get along when a "problem" such as this one can't be reconciled? Good grief----do you think that maybe two statues could have been commissioned? Silly.

[DistressedAmerican]

5. Dork Alert!

[maxsolomon]

6. i don't get it - why did he need her permission?

did lord nelson's heirs sign off on Trafalgar Square?

Don Knotts belongs to all Americans!

[DanCa]

15. He wil always be an icon

With or without a statue.

[Lance_Boyle]

7. I WANT A RALPH FIRLEY STATUE DAMMIT!

AND I'LL KNOCK DOWN ANY AND ALL HALF-STATUES OF BARNEY FIFE UNTIL I GET IT!

[Leopolds Ghost]

10. LOL! Am I the only one who thinks this would have made a great plot for an

episode of "The Andy Griffith Show"??

[drm604]

14. You're right!

It's exactly the kind of thing they would have done; two people having a feud over some ridiculous issue. Barney would have been all fired up taking one side or the other, and Andy would have just thought the whole thing was ridiculous and tried to find some kind of compromise.

[htuttle]

8. "Nip it in the bud!"

"Nip it! Nip it! Nip it!"

[Vinnie From Indy]

11. Any artist has the right to create an ORIGINAL, one of a kind

representation of ANYTHING. There is not a dang thing ANYONE can do to ultimately stop the artist. The caveat is that the artist must not mass produce the item. Each work must be an original.

[11 Bravo]

12. He's a fearless crime-stopper

What a copper,
Barney Fife.

[LisaM]

13. Ha ha ha -- it IS a silly argument

But really, if it were my husband and he'd played such an obnoxious character, I wouldn't like it either. Yes, there's room for two statues. But can't you cut a little slack to the living?

[Tulum_Moon]

16. There once was a deputy named fife

He carried a gun and a knife.
The gun was all dusty.
The knife was all rusty,
because he never caught a crook in life!

[Cha]

17. I was thinking about

Don Knotts earlier today and how his character on tv(couldn't think of the name) reminded me of what scaredy cat bush is..:scared:

Oh, he talks big but when it comes down to it he's a chickenshit who hides behind somebody's skirts.

Barney Fife was braver.

[kskiska]

18. I've been to Mt. Airy

The whole town has been pretty much remade into Mayberry and is raking in tourist cash. There's Floyd's Barber Shop and Aunt Bee's Pancake House, and Andy's favorite restaurant that serves pork chop sandwiches. They're pretty good, too.