Coffin at Craven Co. Polling Place Draws National Attention, Much Criticism

There are allegations of voter intimidation here in the east just hours before the polls open for Election Day.

One man’s display near a polling place is drawing national attention.

Nine On Your Side’s Philip Jones was live in New Bern Monday night, where a coffin is stirring up controversy.

Hundreds of people went to the Township No. 7 Fire Department to vote early—and hundreds more are expected Tuesday.

Campaign signs will greet them before they cast their ballots, but one man’s political display that was there just days ago is now in the hands of the Craven County Sheriff’s Department—and has even caught the attention of the FBI.

“Well, I’m out here trying to defend poor old ‘Joe the plumber,’” said Bill Harper of New Bern.

On Wednesday, Harper told Nine On Your Side he took a coffin to a Craven County polling place this past week to lament the passing of ‘Joe the plumber’—who Harper says was taxed to death.

But controversy is alive and well in the casket’s wake.

The North Carolina NAACP says the “O No” stickers on the coffin are a threat telling Sen. Barack Obama to stay away from North Carolina and an effort to intimidate voters away from the polls.

Local law enforcement removed the coffin Friday over concerns of disorderly conduct.

“I got a complaint about the casket being over there with a presidential candidate’s picture on it,” Craven County Sheriff Jerry Monette said. “And the North Carolina General Statute provides that anybody who provides a display that’s likely to provoke violence or a confrontation is in violation of the disorderly conduct statute.”

Sheriff Monette says Harper gave deputies permission to take the casket when they warned he could be in violation of the disorderly conduct statute—and no charges were filed.

Harper—a former county commissioner—says he’s used the coffin at polling places before; most recently when the first President Bush ran against Bill Clinton.

“I don’t recall that incident, to be quite honest with you,” Monette said. “But I’m familiar with this one here. … We don’t want to take it and infringe on his right to free speech and that type of thing, but we also want to make sure the local law is adhered to as well.”

We spoke with Harper last Wednesday—before his coffin drew claims of intimidation.

Ironically, he leveled similar charges against Sen. Obama.

“We don’t need an intimidator in Washington, D.C.,” Harper said. “We don’t need Obama in Washington, D.C.”

Nine On Your Side couldn’t reach Harper by phone Monday, and when we went by Harper’s home, he wasn’t there.

Both the North Carolina Republican and Democratic parties have condemned the coffin.

Nine On Your Side’s Philip Jones spoke with Bev Perdue, who is from New Bern, on Monday. She called the coffin “embarassing.“

The president of the North Carolina NAACP said his group planned to file federal and state voter intimidation and suppression charges against Harper.

And while a few folks we talked to in town Monday think the controversy is overblown, this coffin is far from a dead issue—Sheriff Monette said he fielded calls from the FBI, which could be interested in investigating the case.