Catherine Moore describes herself as a stay-at-home mom.

However for the past few days, she has been anything but.

Wearing gloves and an ankle-length fur coat, for an hour or so each day Moore has been holding a homemade sign outside of Best Wash Laundromat, 806 N. Bloomington St. — one of Streator's busiest streets — that urges passers-by to boycott the business.

It's a toilet paper tempest.

It's also a war of wills.

According to Moore, Streator police told her during the weekend that the owner of the coin laundry, Tony Podkanowicz, reported Moore's 16-year-old son urinated on a roll of toilet paper in the bathroom at the business. Police told her her son would be trespassing if he returned to the business.

"As a parent, I realize that kids sometimes do stupid, silly or even ignorant things. I am not condoning it. My son was disciplined for it. I am more than willing to pay for the roll of toilet paper. I've been at it three days. I'll give it a rest after another 362 days."

None of this made Moore make her picket sign.

What bugged her was when she later learned four images of her son, with his full name and description, were posted behind Plexiglas on the back wall of the coin laundry. Derogatory comments against her son were included. The images were taken with a surveillance camera at the business.

Moore asked police and was told she could ask the owner to remove the photos and words or she could go to an attorney, because it is a civil, not criminal, matter.

Moore said she went to Podkanowicz. In a phone conversation she said he refused her request; he told The Times she hung up before he was finished talking.

Podkanowicz told The Times Tuesday Moore's son must apologize and clean the bathroom with bleach water for him to remove the photos. Podkanowicz said police told him Moore's son did not admit guilt, but images from one of his surveillance cameras suggest the boy did it.

"We all do stupid things when we're kids. I did too," Podkanowicz said.

A gallery of the stupid things people have done at the three coin laundries Podkanowicz owns in Streator can be seen on the walls at each business — he's posted more than 100 surveillance photos, a number of which show people exposing parts of their body.

"Icall it my wall of shame. I use it as a deterrent," Podkanowicz explained. "I wish everybody could be a small business owner for five years and then they'd get a better handle on why I'm doing things this way."

After her phone conversation with Podkanowicz, Moore went to an attorney who told her it would be expensive to fight Podkanowicz legally, but it is within her rights to picket.

So, with Siberian temperatures and two pairs of gloves, she's exercising her rights.

"I feel it is my duty as a parent to protect my child from being exploited by Mr. Podkanowicz. I ask you, what is worse, a kid tinkling on toilet paper? Or exploiting a minor?"

She may have company on the picket line — Podkanowicz said he plans to make his own sign and join Moore out front.