Effigy of 'Arab' stirs uneasiness in San Anselmo

An effigy of a man in Arab headdress hanging from a gallows in a San Anselmo yard has become the latest public display of politics to raise eyebrows in a town becoming known for that type of thing.

Pat La Tray, 57, built the gallows for the straw effigy - which has an American flag piercing its heart - after police asked him to take it out of a tree on town property in front of his house at 330 Greenfield Ave. He built the effigy for Halloween, but said he has decided to leave it up as a symbol of his support for troops fighting in the Iraq war and his stance against terrorism.

"It is a patriotic symbol," La Tray said. "It has nothing to do with race or religion."

Nearby resident Pilar Sinelnikoff said she doesn't care what La Tray says. The effigy offends her every time she walks by it.
"I'm appalled he calls himself an American," she said. "He's pathetic."

Shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a man painted a large American flag on his wooden fence along Center Boulevard near the Fairfax border. He reversed the boards on the fence after a vandal kept spray-painting it.


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