Right in the sign.

Disgruntled resident David Bowden took aim at the town in bright orange freehand on the front of his house a few weeks ago.

"Screwed by the town of Cary," the sign reads, referring to a spat with the town over how road construction has damaged his home.

The sign, which still hasn't come down, has become a menace to the people who love Cary to look just so.

Bowden, meanwhile, has emerged as a folk hero for free-speech advocates. And, by way of the sign ordinance, he has more easily gained the ear of town officials.

He's also the latest in a long line of people to have stoked the town's fussy reputation for being all things beige and matchy.

We rounded up a list of memorable offenders who dared to defy Cary's strict appearance ordinances.

• October 1996. Offensive door and awnings. Location: Talbot's, Cary Towne Center. Why: Too red. The planning and development committee persuaded the department store to tone down its signature candy apple red door and awnings. They suggested burgundy, matching neighboring store Dillard's cap and entry column.

• October 1996. Nonconforming exterior. Location: Gypsy's Shiny Diner. Why: Too shiny. Owner Gypsy Gilliam locked horns over having her old-fashioned diner clothed in chrome. Some compromises included taller landscaping and building up the brick base. There was a later skirmish about holiday lights adorning the bushes. On her grand opening in 1997, about 600 people lined up at 4:30 a.m. to be the first diners.

• March 1997. Offensive roof. Location: Lochmere neighborhood. Why: One of these roofs just doesn't belong. Neighbors filed suit against builders who capped a new house on their tidy turf with one very red, tin roof. Before the roof could defend itself, the suit was dropped and it was allowed to continue its reign of redness.

• May 1999. Offensive awnings. Location: Stratford apartments, Cary. Why: Too red. The town told the apartment complex it would have to replace its awnings to a more muted shade at a cost of more than $30,000. Even though the town voted in favor of removal 6-1, then-Mayor Koka Booth suggested, "Give them a year out in the sun, and they'll have faded anyway."

• July 2002. Offensive-sign sticker. Location: town hall. Why: Shame the bad signs with good signs. The town's planning and development committee endorsed this idea: Instead of uprooting illegally placed open-house and yard-sale signs in public medians, slap a neon orange violation sticker on them to render them useless and bring public shame. Opponents were concerned that the sticker campaign would just add to the visual clutter.

• November 2004. Offensive White-Tiger sign. Location: Van. Why: Portability. The Cary taekwondo studio was one of a handful of businesses cited that year for violating the portable sign ordinance by parking a branded vehicle on a roadside lot. Even if that lot belongs to them, essentially meaning that future customers would have to quickly jot down pertinent information as the van passes them on the freeway.

• June 2003. Offensive paint color. Location: Kim Perry's Not Just Country Store, Cary. Why: Pink doesn't blend. When business owner Perry started to paint her East Chatham Street store carnation pink, the town halted her halfway through the job, saying it didn't blend other buildings. The half-pink building stood while a compromise was reached, adding one part white to four parts pink for the rest of the paint job.

• September 2005. Offensive political signs. Location: everywhere. Why: Illegal placement. Five of the town's seven council candidates for town seats violated the town's sign ordinance within weeks of starting campaigns. Politics being politics, candidates who had not been caught breaking the sign ordinance shamed their opponents. The signs kept popping up in part because the town doesn't fine candidates who violate sign rules.

• March 2008. Offense: Misnomer. Location: everywhere. Why: Cary's not a city. The town got a taste of its own medicine when public outcry led to a re-do of 50 signs that said "Cary City Limits." Cary is a town, motorists decried. The town paid $2,000 for the mistake.

• July 2009. Offense: "Screwed by the town of Cary." Location: House. Why: Too big. Fun fact: The zoning violation, hand-delivered to Bowden on the day he debuted his lurid logo, never mentioned content. Turns out it was just too bleeping big. As of Friday, the town had not instituted fines.