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Ron Paul signs are too big, city says

Posted November 14, 2007 10:00 pm

Bernard Schoenburg

The city of Springfield is trying to get some signs for presidential candidate Ron Paul taken down because they are larger than zoning allows.

Letters dated Oct. 25 were sent from the building and zoning department to owners of property at 2115 S. Fifth St. and 1211 S. Sixth St., saying that "banners and stakes" there exceeded the square footage allowed. The property owners were asked to contact the city within 10 days.

Follow-up letters dated Tuesday said no contact was made, so the matter was referred to the city's legal office for further action.

One property owner said Wednesday he took down a banner after getting the first letter, but if the city tells him to take down a wooden sign remaining in front of his home, he won't do it.

"Putting signs in your yard is as old as the election process itself," said Calvin Mabus, 49, who lives at the South Fifth Street address. "What's more important - preserving our national sovereignty or worrying about a stupid little sign?"

Included on the sign, which is about 16 feet square, are the words "Save our Constitution," "freedom," "liberty," "President '08" and "RonPaul2008.com."

A couple of smaller printed Ron Paul signs also are displayed at Mabus' single-family residence.

Zoning for such homes allows temporary signage of no more than 12 square feet. The city only allows temporary signs advocating a candidate to be in place within 60 days of an election, which would be Dec. 7. The primary is Feb. 5.

Joe Gooden, the city's zoning administrator, said the size instead of the timing of the signs was made an issue in the notices because, with the hearing process, if a property owner fought to keep a sign up, the case probably wouldn't be resolved until the allowed pre-election period.

A sign the size of a small billboard is outside commercial property at the Sixth Street address, and owner Garret Jordan said he just received copies of both letters Wednesday afternoon. Gooden said allowable temporary signs at such commercial property cannot combine to exceed 50 square feet.

Jordan said he planned to check with the city to see what his options are.

The large, hand-painted wooden sign on Jordan's property represents an American flag, asks people to "Wake Up," and says the nation's founders warned people about things including "disregarding the Constitution," "not preserving sovereignty," "private central banking" and "foreign entanglements."

"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance," it says.

Jordan also said that while banners attached to the bottom of the sign, including one urging a vote for Paul, could be considered campaign material, he doesn't consider the large wooden structure in that category.

"It's no different than 'Don't drink and drive,'" he said. "It's a message. It's not a campaign sign."

Jordan, 49, said he considers himself a Democrat but has been apathetic about recent presidential races.

"The last time I voted for a president, I voted for Ross Perot twice," he said. "I did vote for Ronald Reagan, who was the last true conservative."

He said the main reason he's for Paul, a Texas congressman considered a long shot for the Republican nomination, is Paul wants to bring troops home from Iraq and shrink the federal government.

"He wants to have a strong national defense, not a strong national offense," Jordan said, adding that he thinks Paul's strength is building "underground" via the Internet.

"The people who support the Ron Paul campaign are the most learned political people in the country," he said. "They know what's going on."

Said Mabus: "Ron Paul is the only one that stands for our freedoms and liberties."

Bernard Schoenburg can be reached at (217) 788-1540 or bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com.

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