Paper says mistakenly ran ad urging Obama killing

A local newspaper in northwest Pennsylvania apologized on Friday for running a classified advertisement that called implicitly for the assassination of U.S. President Barack Obama.

The Warren Times Observer, with a circulation of about 11,000, ran the ad in Thursday's paper and pulled it as soon as it was discovered by a manager, said publisher John Elchert.

The ad read: "May Obama follow in the footsteps of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy," Elchert said.

Elchert declined to identify the person who placed the ad, and said he had referred the case to local police, who notified the Secret Service.

Elchert said the representative who took the ad apparently didn't make the connection between the four assassinated presidents -- Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy -- and mistakenly allowed the ad to run.

"It was just an honest mistake," he told Reuters.

Jim Mackin, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said investigators had identified the person who placed the ad and were taking it seriously. "We do not have the luxury of doing otherwise," he said.

via - Yahoo