Wild Message : Anti-Contra Slogan Sprayed on Billboard Along Highway

On Friday morning, motorists driving north through Encinitas on the Coast Highway saw that a new message had gone up on a billboard near San Elijo Lagoon.

With the help of some spray paint, a Kodak advertisement featuring the image of a baby crawling out of a film carton and the slogan, “Capture a Wild Animal,” had been turned into an attack on the activities of the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

“Capture a Wild Contra” and “Contras Kill Babies” read the new version of the slogan. A sheet splattered with red paint had been stuck into the billboard with an oversize safety pin.

“It’s a tragic, ugly defacing,” said Frank Sanchez, vice president of Martin Outdoor Advertisers, owner of the billboard. “It’s pure vandalism.”

This was the second time in two weeks that vandals have changed the message on a local billboard to reflect anti-Contra sentiments. Last week a public service announcement on a billboard off southbound Interstate 805 reading “San Diego Says ‘No’ to Drugs” had been modified to read “San Diego Says ‘No’ to the Contras.”

“That one was kind of scary,” Sanchez said. “That board is 130 feet up from the bottom and they actually climbed up there at nighttime. There’s a ladder on the side of the board and they scaled it.”

The Cardiff billboard was only three feet off the ground and much more accessible to vandals, Sanchez said.

Sanchez said vandalism has not been a serious problem for Martin, which has 150 billboards in the San Diego area.

“It happens about half a dozen times over the course of the year,” Sanchez said. “Usually it’s something you don’t mind seeing. You’ll get some kid up there with a spray paint can, delivering a valentine: ‘Bobby Loves Sue.’ ”

But Friday’s incident fell into a different category, Sanchez said.

“I think any time references are being made to killing someone, no matter who it is, that’s grotesque,” Sanchez said.

By Friday afternoon, Sanchez had arranged for a crew to go out and repair the damage. He estimated that it would cost $1,000 to paint over the graffiti.

Deputy Sheriff George Gardner of the Encinitas sheriff’s station said Friday that he hadn’t heard about the incident, although Sanchez said he would be reporting it. Gardner said that although vandalism is common to the area, he could not remember a previous incident involving a billboard.

Paul Downey, a spokesman for Mayor Maureen O’Connor, said the mayor had not been notified of either instance of billboard vandalism.

“Certainly the mayor is against anyone defacing billboards,” Downey said. “It’s illegal and it’s wrong, regardless of what the message is and whether you agree with it or disagree with it.”