Contentious billboards replaced

Roadside distraction in Harrison ends as leases expire

Two contentious billboards in Harrison came down last month after their leases expired, said Claude West, who owns Harrison Sign Co.

One of the billboards, which read "Anti-Racist is a Code Word for Anti-White," received national media attention after it went up in October 2013.

In March, a second billboard went up underneath the first one. It read "Welcome to Harrison. Beautiful town. Beautiful people. No wrong exits. No bad neighborhoods."

No one has publicly taken responsibility for either billboard.

The leases on the two billboards expired Nov. 1, and the lessees were told they couldn't renew the contracts, West said. He said that decision was made by the woman who owns the property, not the sign company.

The plastic "wraps" on the billboard faces were removed last month and have been replaced with new advertisements, West said.

Each billboard is 12-by-24 feet, one posted above the other on the same four poles. The billboards are along the U.S. 62/65 bypass, one of the busiest highways in Harrison.

Calvary Baptist Church currently has leased the top billboard. Their message reads, "Where Everyone is Welcome."

The bottom billboard is an advertisement for a local McDonald's restaurant. It features the word "Harrison" with the "o" replaced by a heart. The McDonald's logo is in the lower right corner of the billboard.

Both have one-year leases, West said.

Pastor Darrin Caraway of Calvary Baptist Church said he'd received a lot of positive feedback on the new billboard, and the number of visitors at his church had increased since the billboard went up.

"Whether that's the driving force, I don't know, but we're definitely having more visitors," he said.

Caraway said the congregation voted to place the billboard along the bypass. The money came from the church's general fund. The cost for the billboard lease is $200 a month, he said.

Caraway said he wasn't interested in media attention.

"Our goal was just to do something positive for the community," he said.

During the initial controversy, West said a "young man" leased the first billboard and said the message referred to the government. The man told West that anyone who complains about the government is called a "racist," apparently referring to the fact that President Barack Obama is black.

West said the people who leased the billboards have a right to free speech. He said they can lease other billboards in Harrison from the sign company, but they haven't inquired about that option.

If they do lease billboards again through Harrison Sign Co., West said he will insist that a phone number or website for the organization is on the billboard because he doesn't want to field telephone calls from people trying to reach them.

The "Anti-Racist" billboard had no such identification on it, but the billboard about "No bad neighborhoods" included the website harrisonarkansas.info. According to the website, it was "sponsored by area business owners in order to give an accurate representation of our fair town."

Harrison's Community Task Force on Race Relations has countered the controversial billboards with a "Love Your Neighbor" billboard campaign of their own. Those billboards included a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: "Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Harrison has been dogged by image problems since race riots in 1905 and 1909 that drove all but one black person out of the city. The problem was exacerbated in the 1980s, when Thom Robb, leader of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, moved to rural Boone County and began using a Harrison post office box for the group's mailing address.

Robb has denied any involvement with the billboards.

"It seems like those that boast of tolerance have very limited tolerance toward those with whom they disagree," Robb said via email. "I do hope whoever put the other billboards up will do so again. I guess we will have to wait and see."

Billboards with the "Anti-Racist" message have also gone up in other parts of the country.

State Desk on 12/26/2014

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