Two charged in campus Obama effigy hanging

LEXINGTON, Ky., Oct. 31 (UPI) -- A University of Kentucky student and a friend were arrested in the hanging of an effigy from a tree of U.S. Democratic candidate Barack Obama, police said.

The men, who turned themselves in to UK police Thursday, said they hung the effigy on the Lexington, Ky., campus in response to reports an effigy of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was hung in California, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported Friday.

Police charged Lexington residents Joe Fischer, 22, a UK senior, and Hunter Bush, 21, with burglary in the second degree, theft by unlawful taking and disorderly conduct, the newspaper reported.

The life-size effigy was found Wednesday hanging from a tree near a parking garage.

Items used in the effigy were taken from a fraternity house, said interim campus police chief Joe Monroe said. Neither Fischer nor Bush was a member of the fraternity, he said.

"They expressed extreme remorse for a prank that they say got out of hand," Monroe said of the pair. "They meant no harm or disrespect."

During a news conference Thursday, University of Kentucky President Lee Todd called on the campus "to unite against this type of behavior in the future and move forward from here with a re-dedication to diversity and inclusion," The (Louisville) Courier-Journal said.