Harley seeks phrase erasure

ADAMS CENTER — Harley-Davidson is "aggressively pursuing the removal" of a message scrolling across the digital sign at the Iron Block Harley-Davidson dealership, a corporate spokesman said Wednesday.

The move came after Khuram Hussain, Syracuse, lodged complaints with the company and with the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce over a message he believed was derogatory toward Muslims.

"We believe signage of this nature is highly inappropriate," the company's director of corporate communications, Robert H. Klein, said by phone from Milwaukee.

"We of course deeply regret any offense that the message posted by this independent dealer may have caused," Mr. Klein said.

Mr. Klein said the sign contradicted his company's commitments to individual dignity and inclusion and "we take living these values very seriously."

Since November, the dealership's owner, Erik J. Dunk, has posted several messages critical of President Barack Obama on the electronic sign visible to motorists along Interstate 81. One or perhaps two of those messages — whether the message has changed is in dispute — prompted Mr. Hussain to complain after he saw the sign Friday.

On Tuesday, the sign's message read, "Obama are you kidding? We're not Muslim. You are not Christian!!"

Mr. Hussain said that when he saw it, it read, "Obama is not a Christian! He is a Muslim!!!" Mr. Dunk has denied that message was ever posted, however, and said the wording never changed. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Mr. Hussain, a Muslim, is an education professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, and owns property in Watertown, he said.

Although Harley-Davidson dealerships are independent business, Mr. Klein said, "The dealers have contracts with the company and the contracts do contain provisions regarding these types of activities" that affect brand association.

Mr. Klein said company representatives had been in touch with Mr. Dunk and "we hope to have it resolved very shortly."

He said he had spoken with Mr. Hussain and wasn't sure whether other people had complained to the company about the sign.

The Chamber of Commerce has not taken official action on the matter, but Mr. Hussain said he received an e-mail acknowledging his correspondence with the group.