Armored escort for Snellville's snail ornament

Snellville's controversial snail ornament will get a peculiar, but some say fitting, send-off Saturday morning: an armored police escort from City Hall.

No joke.

Just before 10 a.m., the slug-based baubles, locked in the city vault for the past two weeks, will be transported by armored truck by police Cpl. Charles Coats to the farmers market 200 feet away on Oak Road. There, all 150 holiday ornaments will be sold for $10 each. Proceeds will fund the city's Christmas tree lighting.

"In anticipation of the mad rush of people that are going to come buy these ornaments, we thought we should bring them by police escort. It just puts a little element of fun into it," Mayor Pro Tem Barbara Bender said. "Snellville has an armored truck. We might as well put it to good use."

The ornament, featuring a blue snail in a gold shell and named "Snaily," has been under lock and key since July 12, when city leaders put the kibosh on the 24th-edition baubles purchased for $800. Councilman Tod Warner argued the ornaments undermined new marketing efforts meant to shed the city's anti-business, poor quality-of-life image.

Since then, the city has been flooded with calls from interested buyers. Then in an odd twist, city leaders agreed to sell the ornaments if voters approved Sunday alcohol sales. Residents did just that, by a 2-to-1 margin, on July 20.

Resident Jan Snell Houston, whose great uncle, Thomas, was the city's founding father, has fawned over the ornaments for the past two weeks.

"If anybody wants one, they need to get behind me," Houston said. "[The city's] going to wish they ordered a thousand. But if I pull up and it's like a parade scene, I'm going to turn around. Do you think I want to be a part of ornament mania?"

Resident Susan Chappelear will be at the farmers market as a volunteer, but she plans to steer clear of the craze.

"I'm not buying an ornament. I think it's stupid," Chappelear said. "In the 30 whatever years I've lived here, I've never seen such a fiasco."

For 24 years, Snellville's administrative staff has bought and sold customized holiday ornaments emblazoned with scenes from City Hall, Briscoe Park and the Senior Center. The snail has never appeared on the ornament, but it has a 30-year history in Snellville, used in park literature and on local Monopoly boards.

Councilman Tom Witts said he hopes this snail moves fast. After all, he believes the ornament represents the city's sluggish past, not its promising future.