Some in Las Vegas resist scarlet A

LAS VEGAS, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- A mural that features a woman with a large scarlet A has aroused opposition in, of all places, Las Vegas.

"Scarlet Letter" by Los Angeles artist Alexis Smith was commissioned by the Las Vegas Centennial Commission for display outside a library. But some commissioners do not like what the A stands for -- at least in the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel of the same name, the Las Vegas Sun reported.

"A stands for adultery and we have worked so very hard to clean up that image, and now we're paying for that image," said Steve Schorr, a member of the commission and vice president of Cox Communications.

Some other commissioners said they did not see the connection between the mural and the centennial.

They were outvoted by the rest of the commission. Mayor Oscar Goodman said that the mural, like scores of others commissioned for the centennial, are supposed to be art, not specific historic markers.