Obama effigy hanged in Jimmy Carter home town

The US Secret Service is investigating after an effigy of Barack Obama was found hanging from a noose in Plains, Georgia, the home town of former President Jimmy Carter. The black doll, with President Obama's name on it, was discovered hanging from a building on Main Street in front of a red, white and blue sign reading "Plains, Georgia. Home of Jimmy Carter, our 39th President".

Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said the doll had been removed by the local fire brigade on Saturday. Beyond confirming that his agency was investigating the case, he refused to comment.

Business people in the small town - population under 700 - said they fear it will give Plains a bad name. "We wish it hadn't happened. It's not the kind of publicity the town of Plains likes," Jan Williams, who runs the Historic Inn hotel on Main Street, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after being interviewed by the Secret Service.

However, at least one resident was not surprised. "It's wrong with what they did to Obama but I'm not shocked by it," said Trevor Sims. "It's a nice place to live but some people still out there don't like it."

News of the effigy's discovery emerged as it was revealed that a photograph of the First Lady, showing her features morphed with those of a chimp, has resurfaced as the first result for anyone searching for 'Michelle Obama' on Google images.

The photograph provoked controversy when it was first posted by the Hot Girls blog in November. Although Google refused to remove it, the image disappeared after Hot Girls withdrew it.

Now an American student called Bernard Charles, with ambitions to be a talk show host, has reposted the image, claiming it should be protected under "freedom of expression". This resulted in the pictures reappearing this morning as the first result in a Google image search.

Charles, who blogs under the name bernieluvsellen, claims to be inspired in his ambition by talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. "I love entertaining folks of all ages," he writes. "I find that my perky spirit gives people the inspiration to follow their own dreams."

Whether DeGeneres - just voted with her gay partner, actress Portia De Rossi, America's 'Most Popular Celebrity Couple' - will find her fan's behaviour 'perky' or downright offensive remains to be seen. ·