IGX

It’s been 50 years since that Uncle Sam billboard along Interstate 5 in Lewis County went up to enrage or perhaps just amuse at least some in the vast streams of motorists who’ve viewed it maybe 1.3 billion times.

Some may not think of the billboard exactly as a tourist landmark. But it is one of this state’s best-known sights, with its usually right-wingish ALL-CAP messages alongside a big cutout image of Uncle Sam in red, white and blue.

There have been different variations of Sam. Sometimes he looked worried, sometimes perplexed, sometimes like he was drawn by somebody not very good at painting images of a 4-foot head.

“PUBLIC LIBRARY: A GREAT PLACE FOR YOUR KIDS TO MEET SEXUAL DEVIANTS,” the sign once said.

More recently: “YOU GET TO CHOOSE: MURDERS & BEHEADINGS; OR A PROTECTED BORDER.”

Last year alone, using the state Department of Transportation figures for the freeway stretch near Exit 72, something like 22.5 million vehicles went past the sign in both directions. There used to be one billboard, now there are two, placed in a “V” shape.

In either case, everybody on that freeway stretch could see the mammoth signs measuring 41 feet by 13 feet.

Ballpark the math for five decades — using traffic data for each decade (the feds use an occupancy rate of 1.6 per vehicle) — and you’re at an astounding 1.3 billion viewings by people going past messages such, “WOMEN ARE MEANT TO BE CHERISHED NOT LIBERATED.”

Or, “IF CHINA INVADES WHERE WILL WE GET THE MONEY FOR OUR DEFENSE?”

Since the 1970s, the Uncle Sam sign in Chehalis, WA has been publicly posting racist and offensive statements along the side of I-5. These are the first words that are read when coming into Lewis County from the south, or leaving from the north, creating an immediate hateful impression of our town for anyone that comes to visit or simply drives through. Many residents in Lewis County do not agree with this sign so, why should we all be represented by it? This petition is to take down the Uncle Sam sign for good.