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Billboards: Free speech or free enterprise? Suits defend 'rights' of Ashland restaurant, slam against pope By MELISSA MARTIN While recent attention to a billboard along Interstate 5 near Central Point has re-ignited an old debate about free speech, it may take awhile before the advertising issue is resolved, billboard advocates say. Last week, an article in the Catholic Sentinel called for the removal of a billboard that reads, "The Pope is the Antichrist." While similar billboards have cropped up around the valley over the past eight years, this billboard on I-5 near the Tolo Road exit was removed and reappeared about two months ago, this time in color. The billboard is leased by Talent barber Larry Weathers, an elder with the Rogue Valley Historical Seventh-day Adventist Church, which has no connection with the mainline Seventh-day Adventist denomination. "Everybody loves the First Amendment unless somebody else is doing the talking," said Alan Herson, a Medford attorney who is defending billboard companies in 10 different cases about the constitutionality of billboards. One of the cases has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. "We're discovering that this state is very hostile to free speech." Another controversial sign on I-5 is near the Mount Ashland exit visible to northbound travelers, advertising Callahan's Lodge. "All sign ordinances violate the Constitution," said Callahan's owner Ron Bergquist. His billboard issue is included in one of Herson's lawsuits. Herson also is defending Outdoor Media Dimensions, which owns the billboard that contains the inflammatory message about the pope. The company was formerly owned by his son, Jeff Herson. "The Constitution guarantees that we can speak freely on any subject," Bergquist said. "It leaves no room for sign ordinances." He calls his billboard ugly, but believes it's the only way to attract some of the 40,000 travelers who speed by his restaurant daily without knowing the business is there. Jackson County's sign laws will only allow Callahan's a 25-foot sign - too short to be visible from the freeway, Bergquist said. He wants to put up a 75-foot high sign, similar to Pilot and McDonald's signs in Central Point. "We've promised to take the billboard down as soon as the county gives us a permit for a sign," Bergquist said. Herson said he disagrees that Oregon Department of Transportation officials regulate billboards for location only, not content. The state allows billboards with on-site commercial messages, but require permits for billboards with political messages, Herson said. "The state is giving preference to a commercial message over a political one," Herson said. Recently, the Oregon Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals' siding with the state, but said the courts had no jurisdiction to rule in the case. The court said the case should be settled through state administrative procedures. In the meantime, billboard companies continue to put up new signs without getting the necessary state permits and the state can't do anything about it because the case is being appealed, according to Michael Spaeth, an assistant district manager for the state transportation department. "We're waiting to see what happens in the courts," Spaeth said. Merchants are waiting, too, according to the owner of Callahan's. "Our case has been waffling in the courts for four years," Bergquist said. "The judges don't want to rule on it because it's not an easy and pleasant thing. But they have to stand up for the Constitution. "Justice delayed is justice denied," Bergquist said. In the meantime, Weathers, who leases the anti-pope billboards, said he will continue to exercise his freedom of speech, despite the dangers. "People have threatened lawsuits and I've received about five death threats," Weathers said. "But as long as they are talking and not shooting, I won't worry about it." Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.