COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Governor Strickland has asked the state highway patrol to fire two troopers who engaged in a prank involving a costume that resembled a Ku Klux Klan outfit. Strickland says the behavior by the troopers from the Sandusky post could not be tolerated.

A patrol report says trooper Craig Franklin is pictured in a Jan. 20 cell phone photo wearing a white cone on his head, a white paper mask and a white cloth. Trooper Eric Wlodarsky forwarded the cell phone photo.

The state's public safety director recommended firing. But a union contract provision had allowed the troopers to stay on the job if they maintained a clean record for two years, and the union says it will take legal action if the state tries to go around the contract. Wlodarsky told an investigator there was no malicious intent behind the picture, while Franklin apologized and said he was embarrassed. [MORE]