The Badger Liquor Shoppe, 402 State St., famous for its handmade window-sign displays, recently added a new sign to its window proclaiming victory against the city.

The store was asked to take down its signs earlier this month after Theresa McGuire, a self-proclaimed extensive traveler, complained to the Madison Police Department about the vulgarity of one of the signs.

The Isthmus reported Feb. 22 that McGuire disapproved of a “large colorful sign [that] says the word ‘f*cking’ in large letters.”

McGuire said the sign reflected poor taste on behalf of the city of Madison.

“That sign is a first in terms of ongoing public vulgarity,” she said. “That business is a licensed establishment, and permitting that sign to remain says much less about freedom of expression than it does about [the] lack of taste and class on the part of the city that permits it.”

Sgt. Emil Quast of MPD told the Isthmus the store was asked to be a “good corporate citizen,” and said Madison’s Alcohol License Review Committee discourages a liquor-license holder from using profanity in such a way a person walking down the street would be exposed to it.

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said the city’s building inspection department established no city ordinance prohibiting signs like those in Badger Liquor’s store window.

“I can’t believe the city spent so much time on one person’s complaint,” Verveer said. “After all, there is a thing called the First Amendment.”

What the store dubbed “a classic display of past signs” reappeared in the store window over the weekend, along with the sign claiming victory in the ordeal, though the sign that spurred McGuire’s complaint did not return.

The owner of Badger Liquor Shoppe was unavailable for comment.