XPost: ucb.politics.progressive, chi.general, alt.hollywood   
   XPost: ca.politics   
   From: homosexual.genius@dnc.org   
      
   NEW YORK (CNNMoney) - Scary clowns have gotten a little too real   
   for Target.   
      
   Two weeks before Halloween, the company is pulling some clown   
   masks off its shelves and out of its online store after   
   sightings of menacing clowns across the country.   
      
   Police in Greenville, South Carolina, were alerted this summer   
   to clowns trying to lure children from an apartment complex into   
   the woods. In Texas and West Virginia, people dressed as clowns   
   were arrested this month for chasing strangers with sticks and   
   baseball bats.   
      
   Gunmen in clown masks have reportedly robbed gas stations in   
   Ohio and Kentucky, and robbers in clown masks reportedly hit   
   Taco Bell and Domino's restaurants in Phoenix. On Sunday, a man   
   in Los Angeles County was reportedly arrested for shooting at a   
   clown who brandished a knife.   
      
   "Given the current environment," Target spokesman Joshua Thomas   
   said, "we have made the decision to remove a variety of clown   
   masks from our assortment, both in stores and online."   
      
   Home Depot took a similar step last month and pulled a Halloween   
   decoration called the Scary Peeper Creeper from its stores in   
   Canada following complaints from shoppers.   
      
   Target declined to say which masks it pulled. Some were still   
   available at Target.com on Monday via links to Spirit   
   Halloween.com and HalloweenCostumes.com. For example, Target was   
   selling a "horror clown mask" for $19.99 through Spirit   
   Halloween.   
      
   Randy Christensen, president of the World Clown Association,   
   which was founded in 1982 and has an annual convention, took no   
   position on Target's decision. But he drew a distinction between   
   horror as an entertainment genre and something darker.   
      
   "We are against any usage of a clown-masked persona to terrorize   
   the general public," he told CNNMoney.   
      
   http://www.local10.com/news/weird-news/target-removes-clown-   
   masks-after-series-of-creepy-clown-sightings   
            
      
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