American Notes NEW MEXICO

When Roadrunners, the official magazine of the New Mexico State Police Association, commissioned a painting in honor of highway patrolmen, artist Leonard Frietze found a model that was "fairly moving . . . and bold." Said he: "It was supposed to epitomize an individual who wanted to gallantly protect the citizens." His choice: a 1938 portrait of Adolf Hitler.

Frietze's painting appeared on the back cover of the magazine's fall 1990 issue and sparked a loud outcry. Susan Seligman, state coordinator for the Anti-Defamation League, denounced it as "an unfortunate and insensitive choice. Can you imagine a Holocaust survivor seeing the New Mexico state police portrayed as Hitler?" Both the magazine's editor and Frietze insist that they meant no Nazi overtones. The painting, Frietze explained, was designed only "to make the police feel good about themselves."