Take the hanging mannequins down! It’s just that simple, and it’s advice that should be heeded by Faison resident Lacy Phipps, who is exhibiting several dummies, nooses around their necks, hanging from a display at his home.

There’s apparently nothing illegal about the display but we cannot see anything about this macabre display that will help Phipps in his quest for justice.

While it certainly will bring attention to Phipps — in fact, it already has — it will do nothing to draw positive attention to his concerns that justice was not served in the murder of his son nor to his own injuries, both which occurred back in 1995.

The only attention it draws is the negative kind. Seriously, what other kind could one expect when someone ties nooses around the necks of mannequins and puts name cards below them, leaving one to believe the scene is mimicking the death of people like District Attorney Dewey Hudson, Duplin County Sheriff Blake Wallace and judges Russell Lanier and Paul Hardison.

No question local and state law enforcement officers should look into the matter further. It is disturbing — and most assuredly threatening — and it in no way lends itself to sympathy for Phipps and his self-proclaimed issues with his son’s death.

And, while Phipps has his First Amendment right to free speech, as well as his right to display things on his property, we tend to believe this display is an abuse of both. And we agree with Hudson that it is troublesome and, in our estimation, suspicious.

We understand Phipps’ grief over the loss of his son, William, in such a tragic way — ambushed from a tree by Jimmy Coley as the two were returning home. Coley was found not guilty of the charges against him, with jurors believing that he experienced a mental breakdown brought on by his contention that the Phipps family was terrorizing his family.

Lacy Phipps and his family have always had issues with law enforcement and believe that the release of Coley was just one more in a string of injustices they have had to endure.

But using noose-tied mannequins to get his point across is taking things too far, and it’s time Phipps took the display down and returned to fighting his battles the way most citizens do, through less threatening means.

His other attempts apparently haven’t met with satisfactory outcomes in Phipps’ mind, but we are certain this latest spetacle won’t lend his claims any credibility and likely will prevent those with whom he needs a listening ear from taking him seriously.