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Callahan�s sign unaffected by ruling Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell An Oregon Supreme Court decision on Thursday upholding an order to remove some freeway billboards doesn�t affect this one, says a lawyer for Callahan�s Restaurant co-owners Ron Bergquist (pictured) and his wife, Donna. By Jessica Smith A hillside sign advertising Callahan�s Siskiyou Lodge will stay put, despite a state Supreme Court ruling that appears to say the billboard and others like it must come down. Thursday, the Supreme Court upheld a 1998 decision by the Oregon Court of Appeals that ordered the removal of 11 billboards erected along Interstate 5. Though the Callahan�s sign is not part of the original case � it involved signs owned by Outdoor Media Dimensions of Medford � lodge owner Donna Bergquist said the Supreme Court ruling might have had some bearing on her billboard. But the Supreme Court failed to address the constitutional arguments presented in the Outdoor Media case, Bergquist and attorney Alan Herson said. "It (the decision) has no effect on our signs," Herson said. "The court did not rule on the constitutional merits. It really has no effect." Donna and Ron Bergquist erected the Callahan�s sign on property they own across from their restaurant when the county denied an application for a lighted, 600-square-foot sign on a 70-foot pylon on the Bergquists� lot. Jackson County�s sign ordinance restricts such signs to 300 square feet, erected no higher than 25 feet. But the Bergquists argue that at that size and height, their sign would not be visible from the restaurant�s site below freeway level on the Siskiyou summit. "We want to take the billboard down. We are not for billboards up and down the interstate," Donna Bergquist said. "But we have a right for signage and we�re going to fight for it." Similarly, Outdoor Media has been fighting for years against the state�s sign law. Oregon�s 1971 law goes beyond a federal law that places restrictions on signage along major highways in scenic and rural areas. The state law limits billboards on all state highways, prohibiting them in scenic areas and capping the overall number of billboards at about 2,000. The state and federal laws deal only with billboards that advertise services at another location. Outdoor Media of Medford sought to overturn the Oregon law on grounds that it violates free speech provisions in both the state and federal constitutions. The Supreme Court didn�t address those issues as it sided with lower court rulings upholding the billboard restrictions. Instead, it said the advertising company had failed to exhaust its administrative remedies earlier in the case. A spokesman for the Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers� office said that while the Supreme Court didn�t reach the constitutional issues in the case, the effect of Thursday�s ruling is unambiguous. "What the Supreme Court has said is that the Oregon Department of Transportation can continue to implement this law," spokesman Kevin Neely said. But that doesn�t mean the Bergquists are ready to take down their billboard. Citing a case pending in federal court, Herson said it may be years before the issue is finally settled. The Associated Press contributed to this story. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.