The Maryville-Alcoa (TN) Daily Times, June 3, 1996. `Calvin' Decals Catching Some Heat Auto displays may be deemed `obscene' By Justin Cress Tennessee motorists might need to be more discriminating in the future about the statement their automobiles are making. A recent warning issued to a South Carolina woman for displaying an "obscene" bumper sticker has caused some controversy about that state's obscenity laws. Decals portraying Calvin, of Bill Waterson's popular "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip, urinating on assorted objects of ridicule are sweeping the Southeast. The decals' increased visibility prompts the question: Is it obscentity or simply bad taste? Patti Redden of McConnells, S.C., was surprised to find, while being stopped at a highway patrol checkpoint, that the reproduction displayed in her rear window was considered offensive and illegal according to state ordinances. Her version depicted the letters "IRS" receiving the Calvinesque treatment. Like South Carolina, Tennessee's obscenity laws prohibit the use of "patently offensive" stickers, window-signs, or other markings on a motor vehicle. An opinion handed down in 1989 by the state defines patently offensive as "that which goes substantially beyond customary limits of candor in describing or representing such matters," especially when pertaining to excretory functions. Sharon Curtis-Flair, public information officer of the Tennessee Attorney General's Office, expects to see renewed interest in the state's laws. "We went through this before in 1988 with (another questionable bumper sticker)," said Curtis-Flair. "The law has really not been tested yet. It's just never been challenged." (...)