Video: Courthouse removes art that offended some men

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TUMWATER, Wash. - Artwork that offended some men has been removed from the walls of a Thurston County court house.

But a local women's advocate is calling the move a mistake, saying the artwork was educational.

The art in question includes five framed posters that hung on the walls of Thurston County's Family and Juvenile Court for at least four years. No one officially complained until this week.

One of the posters asks: "How can such a God-fearing man have such a husband-fearing wife?"

Another features a pregnant woman and reads: "Her child will be a first generation American and quite likely a third generation wife beater."

Jamie Powell and Bruce Fischer recently lost divorce battles in the Thurston County Family and Juvenile Court.

They complained to county commissioners that the five posters, which were hanging near courtrooms in front of the prosecuting attorney's office, were discriminatory against fathers.

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Jamie Powell and Bruce Fischer complained to county commissioners about the artwork.

"I think it basically speaks volumes of the bias that goes on in that court, of ripping fathers and children apart from each other," Jamie Powell said.

"What it looks like is that the county/court, when you walk by the biased paintings, is that they sponsor that agenda," said Bruce Fischer.

The day they complained, the judge in charge of the family courthouse ordered the posters be replaced with the youth artwork that's found throughout rest of the courthouse.

"It was my opinion that even though the posters probably represented reality, it makes some people feel uncomfortable and so it's just best we don't post it since we want to be inviting and make sure everyone feels they're heard and treated fairly when they come to the court," said Judge Paula Casey, of Thurston County Superior Court.

The executive director of Safe Place, Thurston county domestic violence shelter, says removing the posters was a mistake.

"The problem is, the issue of domestic violence requires courage and it requires courage to educate the community, and these posters were doing that," said Mary Pontarolo.

The posters all had the phone number for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, but a spokesperson said their organization did not make the posters.

The two fathers who complained about the posters also accuse Thurston County of having biased "anti-father" messages on the county's Web site.