OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) Organizers say they are close to reaching the required number of signatures for a petition drive aimed at removing a sculpture of a partially clad woman from a suburban Kansas City park.
Phillip Cosby, Missouri and Kansas director of the American Family Association, says the sculpture at the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens is obscene and should be removed.
Cosby is seeking 4,500 signatures required to impanel a grand jury, which would then investigate a charge of promoting obscenity to a minor.
He said Monday he has about 3,500 signatures and hopes to have the rest by Aug. 7. He expects to file the petition Sept. 1 with the Johnson County court, which would call the 15-member grand jury.
The sculpture was donated to the garden by a group of Chinese artists.
