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Though the media storm has receded and only leaves are swaying in the trees of Baker Park, Frederick Mayor W. Jeff Holtzinger is still fuming over a debate about three hanging dummies in city park trees that some people considered racially insensitive.

Holtzinger (R) said Tuesday that he believes Guy Djoken, president of the Frederick County chapter of the NAACP, owes an apology for the media storm that swept through late last week to cover the dummy debate, leaving a trail of insensitive and racist connotations on the city.

Djoken brought the dummy display — part of the city's "Halloween in Baker Park" walking tour — to the media's attention on Thursday after he said he received dozens of complaints that the dummies were reminiscent of slave lynchings.

Djoken held a press conference on Friday morning, blasting the mayor's decision not to take the dummies down.

"He owes the City of Frederick an apology for what he's done," Holtzinger said, adding that City Hall received phone calls from places like Arkansas and Texas about the debate. "I don't think he can repair what he did. It was very unfair to portray the city like that."

Holtzinger said he does not believe the hanging dummies resembled hangings or lynchings of slaves, and were simply meant to be scary images for a festive Halloween display.

He said he decided to have them cut down Friday evening because the media attention could damage Frederick's image. But Holtzinger said he believes Djoken's image was the motivating factor behind the debate.

"It was a shameless, deplorable act of self-promotion," Holtzinger said. "What stake does Guy have in Frederick? What does he care if Frederick looks bad? He got his face on national news. That's what he wanted."

Djoken disagreed. All the NAACP wanted, he said, was to bring to the city's attention the concerns of residents, both black and white, who decried the hanging dummies as inappropriate.

"Mayor Holtzinger is accusing the messenger," Djoken said Tuesday. "He's the one who showed a lack of leadership, and didn't understand what was going on."

Djoken said the NAACP has been commended locally and nationally for bringing the debate forth, and for pressing the city to acknowledge Frederick residents' feelings.

He said if Holtzinger had acknowledged residents' concerns sooner, there would have been no media storm to weather.

"He could have taken it down, and there would have been no story, so he has the sole responsibility of making this national," Djoken said. "When people are complaining to you, and saying this is offensive, you say, ‘OK, I get it.'

"People can see that Frederick is a welcoming place, but there are people in Frederick who just don't get it, like the mayor."

Both leaders have said the incident was unfortunate given the strides the city is making to address race relations.

The Bernard W. Brown Community Center — part of the Hope VI project to decentralize and eradicate poverty — will open on the north end of downtown Frederick on Nov. 10. Part of that celebration will include a dedication of Lord Nickens Street, the first street in Frederick to be named after a local African American.

The city will also unveil a plaque that will be placed outside of City Hall explaining the 1857 Dred Scott decision handed down by U.S. Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, ruling that slaves could never be U.S. citizens and therefore had no rights.

A bust of Taney stands outside Frederick City Hall, and was the source of some controversy in recent years.

The new plaque — a collaboration of the city, the NAACP and other community leaders — will be unveiled on Nov. 17.

E-mail Erica L. Green at egreen@gazette.net.