BURLINGTON, Vt. -
"The state of Vermont is not going to crumble because there was a prank played on us," said Gov. Peter Shumlin, D-Vermont.
Some think the hoopla over the doctored decal on Vermont State police cruisers is hogwash.
"Not news," said Nancy Brouillette, who is visiting Vermont.
"I don't think it's big news," said Jason Maring of Moretown.
"When I first heard about it I was like eek what does it look like? And then I saw it and I didn't think it was that big of a deal," said Martha Demers of Woodbury.
Others are tickled pink by the prank.
"I thought it was pretty hilarious. I found it very amusing," said Janet Arnold, who is visiting Vermont.
"I think it's just prisoners having a good time. I don't think there's too much wrong with that," said Brian Palmer of Barre.
Four years ago, inmates in Windsor were tasked with creating more decals for State police cruisers. Turns out print shop prisoners got creative with the image, swapping the Holstein's spots with a pig, the derogatory term for police. The swine was so cleverly concealed, it went unnoticed for years.
It was the State police who put out a press release about the decal. So why didn't they just quietly strip them off and replace them? A spokesperson for the troopers said that the information was about to become public anyway, so the organization wanted to get ahead of the message.
"The prisoner who did it obviously has some creative talent," Shumlin said.
Talent that got the governor talking during a morning interview with WDEV radio host Mark Johnson. He even threw in a zinger of his own.
"If they'd used that creative talent to get a job in graphics maybe they wouldn't have gotten locked up," the governor said.
This little piggy-- now plastered on 60 cruisers statewide-- has gone viral.
"By five o'clock on Facebook it was everywhere," Martha Demers said.
Our own Facebook page exploded with comments and people passing the image around. One group even wants to save the pigs, calling on the governor to embrace the altered image and allow it to stay on the cars.
"We're going to take them down and correct it slowly and methodically," Shumlin said.
The conversation has been priceless. And although talk is cheap, the prank isn't. It will cost about $800 to fix the decals.
State police plan to destroy all the doctored decals. The Department of Corrections says the replacements will be paid for by the Vermont Offender Work Program.
Related Story:
Prisoners sneak pig into VSP decal
