OCALA, Fla. -- The owners of an Ocala business are accused of taking a racist swipe at president-elect Barack Obama. The NAACP of Florida calls the message on the company's marquee "horrific" and "insensitive."

Last year, the same fence company and auto shop was accused of using its sign to ridicule people with disabilities. What they've posted now, some call free speech and others call an outrage.

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SEE THE SIGN: Images Of Controversial Sign
VIDEO REPORT: Business Again Creates Controversy With Sign

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The time, the sign outside Good Guys Auto and Hercules Fence (see map) reads, "From the ghetto to the White House. What's next? A movie or a book?" The comment that America's first black president, Barack Obama, comes from a "ghetto" has local residents fired up once again.

"That's like racist right there," one resident told Eyewitness News.

"Why do they feel like they have the right to just put it out there. There's kids that come by here. There's a high school," another person said.

The company wouldn't talk about its sign. When they saw the Eyewitness News cameras, they locked the front door and then shut the company's garage. They eventually sent out an African American employee who said his boss is no racist.

"Me being a black guy, a black guy can be president, a black guy can put a thing up on a sign, he can do whatever he wants," the man said.

The president of Florida's NAACP begs to differ, calling the statement insensitive and horrific.

The sign made some people so angry, they came and took off all the letters yesterday, but the owner put the marquee back in place, committed to send his controversial message. The same company came under fire last year after it posted a sign that some say ridiculed the disabled.

"I wouldn't take my car there to get worked on. That goes to the credibility of someone," a resident said.

It's bad for business, maybe, but as the employee said, it's a free country.

"If ya'll don't like how it is, get your own sign and put it up," he said.

The company puts a different message on its sign every week.