White Deer Stuck on Letter of the Law
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When state officials started cracking down on some 1,300 illegal signs along highways in Texas, they had no idea their net would snare any Lions.
Signs at the city limits of White Deer, Tex., read, “Welcome to White Deer. Home of the State Champion Bucks”--and officials say they violate federal beautification laws.
And the Lions Club, which put up the signs to promote the local high school’s state championships in football and basketball, is faced with a decision: Pay $96 for a permit and $125 for a licensing fee, take them down or pay a daily fine of $200.
“If it was advertising my business, that’s one thing, but it’s not,” said Dee Ann Murtishaw, serving the lunch special at Dee Ann’s Cafe. “It’s not like somebody’s making money off it.”
Lions Club President Jack Back, business manager for White Deer schools, said: “We had the signs up to congratulate our community, the school--not to advertise anything.”
But the last word comes from John Willis, director of transportation planning and development for the Highway Department in Amarillo: “Personally we don’t find anything wrong with it, but it’s not what the law says they can do.”
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