Vegas mayor: Do graffiti, lose your thumb

Cut them off on television, politician says, and bring back whippings

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Taggers need 'thumbing,' says mayor
Nov. 4: Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman is proposing to cut off the thumbs of graffiti taggers. MSNBC’s Alex Witt reports.

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updated 6:36 p.m. ET Nov. 4, 2005

RENO, Nev. - The mayor of Las Vegas has suggested that people who deface freeways with graffiti should have their thumbs cut off on television.

“In the old days in France, they had beheadings of people who commit heinous crimes,” Mayor Oscar Goodman said Wednesday on the TV show “Nevada Newsmakers.”

Goodman said the city has a beautiful highway landscaping project and “these punks come along and deface it.”

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“I’m saying maybe you put them on TV and cut off a thumb,” the mayor said. “That may be the right thing to do.”

Goodman also suggested whippings should be brought back for children who get into trouble.

Another panelist on the show, state university system regent Howard Rosenberg, said cutting off the thumbs of taggers won’t solve the problem and Goodman should “use his head for something other than a hat rack.”