TUCSON ARIZONA

Controversial art shows Arpaio holding people at gunpoint
More Phoenix Local News
02:25 PM Mountain Standard Time on Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Azfamily.com

TUCSON - Organizers set up what they call public art which portrays the sheriff as a racist and he is certainly not happy about it.The protest is in the form of a Tucson citywide art installation.
The life-size cutouts appeared a few days ago at major intersections in Tucson. Some depict Sheriff Joe Arpaio with gun drawn threatening a Hispanic woman and child.
Arpaio's tells 3TV, “How low can these activists get? It’s getting out of hand. I don’t think it’s right to put the chief law officer pointing guns at kids and females.”
The sheriff is not the only one targeted in the cardboard cutout campaign. Another set of cutouts show a border agent pointing a gun at a Hispanic man on his knees with his hands in the air. The agent depicted is Nicholas Corbett. Corbett is accused of murdering Francisco Dominguez in January of 2007.Dominguez had just crossed the border illegally and reportedly presented no threat to agent Corbett when he was shot.
The anonymous group behind the cutouts sent a statement explaining what they call public art saying, "These men are intended to represent our nation's legacy of systemic violence and racism."
Arpaio scoffs at the group's charges but he has seen a number of similar protests this year. On Cinco de Mayo, Arpaio critics put his face on devil piñatas.
The sheriff says none of it has had an effect on him but he is worried about the effect the protests have on children.Tucson police have taken the cutouts down but the question remains: Who was behind the protest?Tucson police say they are investigating.