A home decorated for Halloween to resemble an Ebola hot spot is seen in University Park near Dallas, …
By Lisa Maria Garza
DALLAS
- A man who decorated his Dallas home for Halloween to resemble an
Ebola hot spot has found that charities he wanted to benefit by showing
it off are refusing donations from an exhibit many find to be in poor
taste.
James Faulk, 48,
transformed his townhouse in an affluent Dallas neighborhood by adorning
it with blue plastic barrels affixed with orange bio-hazard stickers,
yellow caution tape and the word "QUARANTINE" stenciled in red letters
on the outside of a boarded up door.
"I
just put them out for the kids to have fun," Faulk said on Wednesday.
But critics in Dallas, where a person was diagnosed with Ebola died less
than a month ago and two nurses who were treating him were infected
with the deadly virus, have said now is not the time to make light of
the outbreak that has left almost 5,000 dead in West Africa and many on
edge in the United States.
"I am appalled that there are people
living in our country who could be so insensitive to the suffering of
others that they would use a deadly virus as a Halloween theme," area
resident Doris Taylor wrote in a letter to the Dallas Morning News.Reactions from neighbors have been mixed. Police showed up shortly after the decorations went on display after a resident was concerned the quarantine scenario was real, Faulk said.
After
about 100 people a day have visited the "Ebola House" since it went up
on Oct. 18, Faulk decided to use the attention to gather money for
non-profit organizations working to fight the virus.
But he has been rebuffed, Faulk said, adding groups do not want to be affiliated with his effort.
"I'm not going to give up. Friday night is going to be a platform to do something good. This a horrible disease," he said.
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