Fort Myers embroiled in sign flap

FORT MYERS, Fla., May 5 (UPI) -- A World War II veteran employed part-time by a Florida city has gotten a lot of unwelcome attention for removing signs put up to welcome home a soldier from Iraq.

Kelly Smith, the woman who put up the signs and yellow ribbons outside her home in Fort Myers to honor her daughter says everyone should calm down.

"It has all gotten too out of hand and big," she told the Fort Myers News-Press.

The flap went from local to national when conservative Web pundit Matt Drudge put a link to a local story on his site. Soon, the city was inundated with e-mail from across the country and even Canada.

The News-Press says that 300,000 people looked at its story, a record for the paper.

Now, the city is trying to do some damage control. Mayor Eric Feichthaler plans to read a proclamation in honor of Amanda Smith at next week's council meeting and has invited the whole family to attend.