I can’t take credit for the headline, it was suggested by a motorist who tipped me to the following development:
A crane was at work on Jennings Osborne’s Cantrell Road spread yesterday as workers disassembled the giant light display on his yard. We haven’t reached Jennings yet, but his wife Mitzi said the lights were coming down, in part because vandals continuously cut power to them.
We’ll have more later I hope. I’m not sure yet if every last light is going, or whether Jennings is a 30 percenter, still happy to proudly advertise his support of George Bush in lights.
(For late arrivals to the LR scene, Osborne is the medical researcher whose annual Christmas light display grew so large that it spawned a lawsuit by neighbors over the traffic fallout. He’s gone on to light up Disneyland World and Graceland and numerous other locales.)
UPDATE: Jennings checked in this morning. Gone for good is the giant American flag with the legend “God Bless America and George W.” But, no, this is no signal of political defection. Osborne is a 30 percenter, he readily admits, though he acknowledges Bush has had a rough second term. Osborne prefers Hillary Clinton in this year’s contest, in case you’re wondering. “The Clintons have been very good to me,” he said. Maintenance had become an issue on the flag sign and Osborne said he also has plans to sell the house and property on which the flag was constructed, as well as a house to the west of his main compound. This is not the end of all lighting. He said he would retain the 60-foot by 90-foot eagle that’s erected inside the wall of his main house. He said he’s having trouble finding someone to fix several rows of inoperative lights on the eagle.
It would appear AP followed up our item and sent another Osborne story worldwide.