RALEIGH - An elderly couple avoided having their Boylan Heights home declared unfit Tuesday, winning a 60-day reprieve on housing code violations.

R.J. and Agnes Royster found support from several of Raleigh's activists, who told the City Council that the family had been unfairly targeted.

J. Ronald White, president of the South Central Wake County NAACP, said neighbors had called 911 with petty complaints, including a 9-year-old's birthday party.

"Let's quit holding the Roysters hostage in their own home," he said.

Neighbors say they have long endured noise and drug activity from the house at 715 S. Boylan Ave. Police came on a drug sale call in January, according to an incident report, and Royster said his son had been jailed as a result.

City Inspections Director Larry Strickland said many of the lingering problems have been corrected.

The Roysters received an $18,000 loan to correct problems in 2006, and White said their contractor had run off without finishing the work. The city attorney's office will investigate.

Royster, White and others noted the recent appearance of a spray-painted image on the back of street signs outside the Roysters' home, which they took to be an image of a hanging man.

The image was created by Raleigh artist Matthew Curran, who submitted it to a magazine that later turned it into a stencil.

"It's actually a photograph of my little brother," he said. "It's interesting how people interpret the artwork."

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