Ad executive crusades to rid roads of `spam'

STRATHAM , N.H. -- John Decker, a.k.a. `` Sign Bandit," has embarked on a one-man crusade against what he calls ``street spam."

Decker, a freelance advertising executive, is offended by illegal commercial signs touting everything from house painters to hot tubs.

He estimates that he has harvested more than 500 makeshift road signs from Seacoast highways over the past two years and disposed of them in the local landfill.

Signs for Himalayan Goji Juice and 1-800-Got-Junk and other businesses are stacked in front of the weathered barn beside his house, awaiting the next trip to the dump.

His crusade did not go unnoticed by local officials. Earlier this month , he was arrested by the Portsmouth police and charged with ``unlawful taking by theft," a misdemeanor.

`` `Unlawful taking by theft,' that's redundant, isn't it?" Decker asked earlier this week, more amused than upset by the charge. A banner on his barn reads ``Free the Sign Bandit."

Decker is aware of the irony of an advertising executive having issues with signs -- one of the oldest forms of getting the word out on your product. He says he's called many of the businesses whose signs he's taken and offered to help them with their legitimate advertising needs for free if they agree to stop posting roadside signs.

``I don't want anyone to go out of business over this," he said, ``but I do want to see them do the right thing."

He said nobody has taken him up on the offer yet. ``They usually just get mad."

Decker said his campaign began two years ago when a hot-tub sale sign was posted at the edge of his property and he decided to remove it. He was on the way to the dump to dispose of the sign, when he saw others along the road and removed them as well. It was the first of many trips to remove signs in the biodiesel-fueled black pickup truck he calls the ``grease beast."

``Those signs are an eyesore and they're just plain illegal," he said. ``I called the highway department and they told me it was illegal to post signs on public property, but said they didn't have the money to remove them, so I did it."

Signs can only be placed on private property with the owner's permission , under state law. They cannot be placed in the public right of way.

Decker said when motorists see him removing the signs, they give him a thumbs up. Friends and neighbors have begun picking up signs, too and dropping them off in his yard.

Calls made to businesses whose signs he has taken were not returned.

Decker said that after he removed a sign for Universal Hot Tub and Furniture, he got a call from the Portsmouth police and was told he was going to be charged with theft. He arranged to turn himself in at the police station the following Saturday, Aug. 12, and decided to hold a rally when he arrived.

When a story on the proposed rally ran in a local newspaper, the police arrested him in his home earlier that week. But Decker went ahead with the rally anyway.

On Aug. 12, about 40 people attended the demonstration at the police station. Decker spoke out against the signs, the Leftist Marching Band performed ``This Land is Your Land," and supporters chanted ``Hey, hey, ho, ho, those ugly signs have got to go."

Portsmouth lawyer Richard N. Foley has agreed to handle Decker's case pro bono. ``He's a man of conviction," Foley said last week. ``And everybody's bothered by those ugly signs."

Foley said he was appalled when Decker was arrested at home. ``I think it was an overreaction by the police," he said. ``They handcuffed him and took him away at 11 p.m. and he'd already agreed to turn himself in. He's only charged with a Class B misdemeanor, which doesn't call for jail time and is a $1,200 fine at most."

Decker is scheduled to be arraigned on the charge tomorrow in Portsmouth District Court.

Foley said he will plead innocent. ``He's absolutely not guilty of anything, except trying to make the world a better place."

Decker's antics have gotten the attention of state Representative James R. Splaine , a Portsmouth Democrat, who filed legislation several years ago to make it a crime to place political signs on public property.

``The unauthorized signs are not only messy, they're dangerous," Splaine said last week. ``We already have enough to keep our eyes on when we're driving."

Splaine said the illegal signs also put law-abiding business owners at a disadvantage.

He said the problem is that there's no fine for placing the signs, so he's hoping to write legislation to create fines for putting private signs on public property.

``A fine of $5 or $10, is about right," he said. ``It would make it worth the time of city, state, and town officials to remove them."

Decker said he's gratified by all the attention he's received and he's happy that Splaine is interested in creating legislation, ``because it's all just a waste of time if the law doesn't change."