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MARIETTA - Despite a storm of criticism, Mulligan's Food and Spirits owner Mike Norman has ordered 100 more "Obama in '08" T-shirts featuring Curious George after being inundated with phone calls of people "begging" him to get more, he said.

But not all the phone calls have been positive, he said, which is one reason he chose to take the phone at the neighborhood bar and grill off the hook on Wednesday.

"We've been getting death threats and a lot of people calling cussing," Norman said. On Tuesday, about a dozen demonstrators protested at the restaurant.

Community leaders are denouncing the $15 T-shirt that features cartoon chimp Curious George peeling a banana and the phrase "Obama in '08."

Both County Chairman Sam Olens and Marietta Mayor Bill Dunaway agree Norman has a right to free speech. But, "Cobb County embraces diversity and the right for all to be treated with respect. The T-shirt and its overt racist tenor has no place in our society," Olens said.

Dunaway said he has met with local leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

"I do not share those views and am concerned about how our community is being portrayed. They are not representative of the positive race relations our community has worked together to forge," Dunaway said. "We welcome diversity and believe everyone in our community should be treated with respect."

The buzz began Tuesday when about a dozen protestors gathered outside Mulligan's, outraged over the

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the copyright and trademark owner to Curious George, has been following the media storm. Though Norman said the monkey on the T-Shirt is not an exact replica of Curious George, a spokesman for the publishing company said Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is weighing its options.

"We have seen the news reports of a local bar owner in Marietta allegedly selling T-shirts that depict the Curious George character in a racially offensive manner," spokesman Rick Blake said. "Houghton Mifflin Harcourt did not nor would we under any circumstances authorize or approve such a use which we find offensive and utterly out of keeping with the value that Curious George represents."

Norman said he was not worried.

"I didn't design them anyway," he said.

Back at the neighborhood bar and grill, people are flowing through the doors inquiring about the shirts. Bartender Bonnie Reilly handles most of the queries, but gets fired up over all the attention.

"People come here to hang out and keep to themselves. Now we're getting death threats, and I had this one creepy guy keep calling this morning," she said. "Who are the extremists now?"

Norman still defends the T-shirts, though he was sent a courier letter from the Muscular Dystrophy Association saying the organization did not want any of the money he collected. Norman had intended to donate proceeds from the T-shirt sales to the organization, he said.

Others in the community also want nothing to do with the T-shirts - from local politicians to business managers.

Ciro Cobarrubias, manager of Super Mercado Lavilla just down the street from Mulligan's, said he thinks Mulligan's needs to shift focus.

"They should be trying to get more business instead of bothering another race. I don't know-we don't have time to worry about things like that because we're so busy," he said.

Still, despite the hoopla, Norman said he has no regrets about selling the T-shirt.

"I don't want everyone to think I'm a jerk, but I'm not going to turn tail and run about this," he said. "I wish people would lighten up and stop taking things so seriously. There ain't no future in the past."

tmollett@mdjonline.com

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