The emergence of this 9-foot aluminum statue on Marlene Opray's property has caused quite a stir, not only among her neighbors on her street, but even throughout the community at large. Yet Opray, 67, doesn't see what the fuss is about. After months of searching for a Statue of Liberty as a way to display her U.S. patriotism, she finally found one that fit her specifications, "not too tall or too small." She paid $2,500 for the more-than-600-pound statue, which was delivered by South San Francisco statuary business A. Silvestri Company on June 7.

"I don't see what the big deal is," Opray says about her yard's new addition. "It's nothing risqué and I'm not doing anything illegal."

San Jose Code Enforcement Division inspector Garry McLeod confirmed that Opray's new statue isn't a breach of any city code laws. He said that after visiting her home more than once to survey the statue, administrators confirmed Opray's right to keep this statue in her yard.

"This is just Opray displaying her freedom of expression," McLeod said. "It is not a sight obstruction, just someone expressing themselves."

Now Opray's neighbors are expressing their opinions about the Statue of Liberty, which has brought the statue count in Opray's front yard to eight.

"Everyone's boiling," neighbor Rose Francotti said, who's lived on Koch Lane for 30 years. "It's just too much. It's just a little tacky."

Another Koch Lane homeowner, Cindy, who didn't want to give her last name, said she couldn't understand why Opray wanted to place so many statues in her front yard, calling the yard art "horrible." Opray's front lawn also includes two Roman-style warrior statutes that are approximately 7 feet tall, two fountains that look like water boys, one lion and a windmill.

"Everyone stops to gawk at it," Cindy said. "I worry that it will bring down our property value. It's really gaudy, and I wish she would put the Statue of Liberty in her backyard."

But "gaudy" is the last word Opray would use to describe her expression of patriotism. In fact, she can hardly contain her smile when talking about it.

"This is my home," Opray said. "If you don't like the statue, you don't have to look at it."

Some of the other statues to which the neighbors object predate Opray's move into the home. Her mother, Jewel Whitley, was the property's previous owner but has since died. Opray moved into the home in May and decided to add to her mother's statue collection.

"A lot of love has been put into this house," Oprah said. "It's a real showplace now. It needed a facelift, some new life."

She said before her mother became ill, the two had talked about finding a Statue of Liberty replica to place in the yard. Now she says she has fulfilled a wish she and her mother had.