Vandal in Santa Hat Defaces Las Vegas Sign

Landmark neon creation defaced by man in makeshift barrel
By Marie Morris,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 18, 2009 5:54 PM CST

A 69-year-old Nevada man was arrested this morning after splashing paint on the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign in what he said was an attempt to get the government's attention. Joe Pepitone—apparently not the retired baseball player—was wearing a Santa hat, shorts, and a barrel crafted out of cardboard, but no shoes, when he hurled glass balls filled with red and black paint at the landmark sign.

"This fellow is a little imbalanced, it would appear. I mean look at the outfit he has," mayor Oscar Goodman, a well-known opponent of graffiti, told Fox 5. "You almost have to feel sorry for the fact he's trying to get this kind of attention by defacing something that's very important to this community."
(More Las Vegas stories.)

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