10:58 AM CDT on Thursday, July 6, 2006

Associated Press

LAFAYETTE, La. -- The words "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive" are scrawled in permanent marker under city councilman Chris Williams' name on the city council dais, and that could lead to a misdemeanor charge against Williams.

"I put it there myself," Williams said Wednesday.

He and Councilman Louis Benjamin, both black, have unsuccessfully battled seven white councilmen for nearly a year to rename Lafayette's Willow Street after King.

For several meetings, the two have placed bumper stickers on the space below their names at their places at the front of the council meeting room. The stickers, which were not adhered permanently, read, "It's a King thing. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive."

After each meeting, the bumper stickers disappear, Williams said.

"Since they kept removing my sticker, I decided to write mine," he said. The letters are small but noticeable and Lafayette Interim Police Chief Jim Craft said the writing could be considered defacing public property, a misdemeanor.

"If they keep removing these stickers, I think that's defaming public property," Williams said.

Councilman Randy Menard asked that a police report be filed for defacing public property, Craft said after the council meeting.

Council Chairman Rob Stevenson said other than filing charges, as chairman he only can write a memo to Williams asking that he stop.

"It's embarrassing," Stevenson said. "It's graffiti."