The gallows have generated significant online backlash, with Pegenau Builders receiving a flood of negative reviews on Facebook. Many commenters made statements such as that buisness owner Tom Pegenau “supports lynching.” Other reviews read “hate never made America great” and “this business has constructed a gallows with a noose in their front yard. Why would anyone do business with someone who threatens violence?”

When The Mining Journal spoke with Pegenau, he claimed that the sculpture was neither violent nor racist, but rather an expression of frustration with the government.

“I don’t like either side,” said Pegenau. “Both sides are [expletive] standing on our necks, and we’re paying them to do so.”

Pegenau’s frustrations with the government, which he said led him to build and display the gallows, range from the government’s redactions of the Epstein Files to cuts to Social Security.

The gallows in front of Pegenau Builders as seen on Sunday, Courtesy photo

“Global domination and right and left wing antics are dividing people and making them hungry,” said Pegenau. “But nobody wants to stand up for fear of retribution. That’s sad.”

Pegenau says that the structure, which he built and decorated himself, was crowdfunded through his YouTube channel, where he posts livestream videos several times a day. While some of these videos only have 100 or so views, others have tens of thousands.

“I recorded the entire build on my livestream on YouTube,” said Pegenau. “It was paid for by a lot of different diverse people.”

At the time of the writing of this article, Pegenau was streaming live on a pontoon boat in Lake Superior, eating what appeared to be shrimp and rice while salmon fishing.

“They’re telling me I need a zoning permit to put up a [expletive] gallows,” said Pegenau to his viewers, many of whom were commenting with fishing advice.

During his interview with the Journal, Pegenau was asked if he had been contacted by Chocolay Township about the gallows.

“Of course,” he said. “That’s my personal property, I don’t have to take anything down. It’s a moveable structure under 200 (feet).”

The township does not share that sentiment.

“Initially we found out on Friday,” said Greg Elliott, Chocolay Township Manager. “I reached out to (the Michigan Department of Transportation) because it looked to me like it was in their right of way. They investigated over the weekend, and called back saying it was on the edge of the right of way, and they could not ascertain if it was in the right of way. That was at the end of the day (Monday).

“(On Tuesday) we sent out a notice violation (to Pegenau) under our zoning ordinance. We don’t regulate construction, that’s Marquette County, but we do have a zoning ordinance on where you can place a structure on your property. There’s a permit-required zoning compliance

requirement, which he did not get, obviously.” Chocolay Township requires all structures to be built at least 30 feet from the road right of way.

“We let him know that he was in violation, and that he has two choices: one, to get a zoning compliance permit and move 30 feet back, or, alternatively, he could remove it,” said Elliott.

The township gave Pegenau two weeks to comply.

“I’m gonna build five more,” said Pegenau. “I’m actually gonna hold a class on how to build gallows and sell them on my private property so people can learn how to timber frame.”

Posts about Pegenau and his gallows continue to rack up hundreds of comments across social media.

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Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.