KELLI SAMANTHA HEWETT / STAFF
Statues at the G & L Garden Center in Hartsville have been draped with crimson velvet ''bikinis'' after two complaints about the revealing nature of the statuary.


By KELLI SAMANTHA HEWETT
Staff Writer

HARTSVILLE — Since February, they stood proud along Highway 25, their bottoms bare and chests showing, well, a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Then, about three weeks ago, two people, one of them a customer, phoned the G&L Garden Center to say it was way too much and asked the owners to please move them around back.

But the statues weigh as much as 500 pounds each and are an ordeal to move. So owners Angie Langford and Pam Gregory came up with a different approach to customer service.

Nearly a dozen concrete statues are sporting crimson velvet two-piece sarongs — as if Santa had a bikini team.

It's no joke or sarcastic statement.

''We didn't want to offend anyone, and we covered them up,'' said Langford, a resident of Hartsville.

She said she couldn't afford to ignore customers, even if she isn't exactly sure who they are.

Now, the attempt at maintaining the girls' roadside modesty is stopping traffic. And yes, some customers are peeking.

''They are pulling the tops and looking underneath,'' Langford said. ''They wonder what we're hiding.''

It's hard to find people who are offended in Hartsville.

Across the street from the garden center, workers at Hartsville Gas have full view of the garden center, including the statues.

''I guess some people just don't appreciate art,'' said gas technician Brad Smith, shaking his head.

Similar statues have been popular items since the garden center opened in 1996, Langford said. Sales are now up, with six of the statues — which start at $99.95 — being sold in the past couple of weeks.

The makeshift swimsuits have people talking.

Regular customers Joan Philpot of Tompkinsville, Ky., visited the garden center yesterday with her husband of 50 years, Bill.

''He wanted to stop when he saw the naked women and the bikinis,'' Joan Philpot said with a laugh.

''That did catch my eye, I'll admit,'' Bill Philpot said.

They aren't offended by the partially exposed statues because they see that kind of thing every day.

''We've got a statue of Venus in our bathroom,'' Joan Philpot said, folding her hand under her arm to illustrate the armless masterpiece. ''And she's naked.''

Others around town are rolling their eyes.

''I think it's silly,'' said local customer Suzanne Rolin. ''I see nothing wrong with it.'' Society ''has always had these statues, not just in Hartsville but the whole country.''

Kelli Samantha Hewett



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I guess some people are just too easily offended. It's understandable if the statues were obscene, but they're not. What's next, curtains covering paintings at the LouvreÉ boxers on the statue of David?

Attorney General A$$croft had the statue of "Justice" covered because one of her breasts was exposed. He offends me and I find him obscene. Who do we talk to about putting him under drapery?

there is a difference between art and porn it's a fine line but very clear, these are the people who probly tell their kids they came from the stork till they are 13.

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"I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts." - John Steinbeck