Simmering racial tensions boiled over on the Telegraph Herald Web site Sunday morning after the stabbing death of Nicholas Blackburn, a white man, allegedly at the hands of Kenyatta Harlston Sr., a black man.

A photo of a lynched black man was posted on the Web site in the comments section where online readers usually share their thoughts about specific articles.

"This person inserted computer code in the text of their post, and that code pulled the image from another Web site," said Randy Rodgers, electronic media director for the Telegraph Herald. Through this method, it appeared that the image was posted on www.THonline.com, even though the photo was from another site, Rodgers said.

The color photo was posted to the site 73 times between 10:30 and 10:37 a.m., and although the majority of the images were caught by a system filter, Rodgers said at least 10 made it through.

A shift commander at the Dubuque Police Department informed the Telegraph Herald about the photo, and minutes later the user was banned and the posts were removed.

An hour later all comments were taken off the site. Rodgers said Telegraph Herald officials plan to restart the site's commenting service after new safeguards are added. The additional layer of security will minimize the risk of "objectionable content" from readers who, until Sunday, could post anonymously through screen names.

Dubuque Police are investigating the matter. The Telegraph Herald was served a subpoena Monday to provide data about the person who posted the content.

New restrictions will follow a pattern of increasing regulations on the Telegraph Herald site since the paper launched the comment section in February 2006 and began encountering reader postings with name-calling and insults.

Rodgers said filters and "Suggest Removal" tips often work.

"But some users do find ways around them, so it's a constant cat-and-mouse game," said Rodgers, who also said some postings accusing others of inappropriate or criminal behavior have been potentially libelous.

In response to several reader complaints that removing the comment forums was infringing on their First Amendment rights, Telegraph Herald Executive Editor and Editorial Board Chairman Brian Cooper said that it actually is the newspaper's First Amendment right to host or not host comments.

Not hosting the comment section does not prevent readers from speaking in another forum, he said.