Are Testicles Obscene?

(Bonneau, South Carolina) A local truck owner, Virginia Tice, was issued a ticket for violating the state obscene bumper sticker law for decorating her truck with a pair of red replica testicles.

Tice decided to contest the $445 citation, sparking a local controversy.

It's a bigger issue now because of Bonneau Chief of Police Franco Fuda ticketing Tice for what he says the law defines as obscene.

"Genitalia is offensive," says Chief Fuda. "As a law enforcement officer, I'll advise that person if it warrants a citation I'll issue a citation. As a father, I wouldn't want my daughter looking at it."

The South Carolina code of laws says "a sticker, decal or emblem is indecent when it describes, in a patently offensive way... sexual acts, excretory functions or parts of the human body."

A jury trial will scheduled, possibly for August.

This case revisits a perennial problem for the legal system -- defining obscenity.

Tip: slwlion