"So far, no evidence suggests that children were harmed in the making of the murals".

What a great line!

What is needed, clearly, is a modern-day, sex offender equivalent of the "Malleus Maleficarum", a 15th Century guidebook used to help witch hunters confirm the presence and identity of witches so that they could then be burned at the stake.

Instead, these poor pedo-hunters are left to flail about in their attempt to divine the meaning and significance of individual tiles used in outdoor school mosaics created by a well-known muralist recently arrested for downloading child porn to his computer.

In their vigorous efforts to root out and destroy all bewitched tiles contained within school murals scattered throughout the Bay area, individual tiles are being removed lest they cast their evil spell upon individuals who gaze upon them.

Presumably, possession of some of these tiles will constitute a class 1 felony, much as possession of bibles translated into English were at one time offenses punished by burning at the stake.

" 'Offensive' images found in S.F. school murals

Anthony Josef Norris, a muralist who runs an arts nonprofit for children, in front of a mural he created at Ida B. Wells High School in San Francisco in 2009. Norris has been charged with possession of child pornography.

The head of a children's art organization, arrested three weeks ago for possession of child pornography, placed "offensive" tiles in murals he created at four city schools, San Francisco police said Friday.

Some 100 "inappropriate" tiles have been found in murals at Sunset Elementary School and three other unnamed schools in the city, said Police Chief Greg Suhr.

Anthony Josef Norris, founder and director of Kid Serve Youth Murals,designed and worked on all the projects. The San Francisco man surrendered June 2 to the FBI after agents investigating a website known for child pornography traced the log-on name of "Spanky" to his home computer and discovered 600 pornographic images of children, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in federal court in San Francisco.

Also under investigation were murals Norris worked on at Old Mill Elementary School in Mill Valley, Global Family School in Oakland and Bahia Vista Elementary School in San Rafael.

Police have not found inappropriate tiles at the Global Family School, said Troy Flint, a spokesman for Oakland Unified School District, who said the mural was checked on Friday. Offensive images were also not discovered during inspections at the other two schools.

The confiscated mosaic tiles measure as small as 1-inch-by-1-inch, Suhr said. Many contain photographic negatives, inlaid behind glass. Others are drawings. Some were installed high above normal viewing levels.

"I think as an adult you look at these tiles and see possibly some sort of sexual connotation to them," said Commander Mike Biel,who declined to describe the offensive images in detail.

Authorities began inspecting close to 40 murals, which comprise tens of thousands of individual tiles, when the San Francisco Unified School District notified authorities after Norris' arrest, Suhr said.

So far, no evidence suggests that children were harmed in the making of the murals.

Norris founded Kid Serve Youth Murals about 12 years ago. He said in a 2009 interview with The Chronicle that his goal was to help youths from preschool to high school develop their design talent and create mosaic murals. "



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