Parents, others upset with messages on new billboard on Route 422 in Summit Township
Neighbors and motorists didn’t think much of it last week when a new electronic billboard was installed at the intersection of Route 422 and Bonniebrook Road in Summit Township, but were shocked and upset at the messages that began scrolling repeatedly on Monday.
The billboard, which is on the northwest side of the intersection, displays messages including “FBI corrupt & dangerous THE GESTAPO” with a large swastika; “Whites are under attack stop it now!!” with “Stop teaching critical racist theory to our kids”; “God’s law ‘marriage’ one man-one woman”; and “God prohibits same sex marriage.”
Jessica Winkler, of East Butler, whose two children attend Summit Elementary School, worries about the hundreds of students whose buses pass the questionable messages twice a day.
She drove her students to school this week using an alternate route to avoid the billboard.
Winkler said that because there are active train tracks on Bonniebrook Road, buses sometimes stop and sit for 10 minutes while the train goes past.
That’s time the students could spend reading the messages.
“These are impressionable elementary school kids who are seeing these awful hate messages,” Winkler said. “It’s so disgusting.”
She said the electronic billboard has been under construction for the last week.
Winkler noticed the messages on her way home from dinner Monday with her family.
She tries to avoid the billboard, but knows her children are going to see it and ask her about the messages.
“Now I have to have this uncomfortable conversation with my kids that I wasn’t prepared to have,” Winkler said.
She plans to contact Summit Township officials to see how such a billboard — which does not display anything other than the questionable messages — could be approved by supervisors.
“I understand somebody can own a billboard and rent it out, but I don’t know who is responsible for what is on it,” Winkler said.
Heidi Priest lives 1½ miles from the billboard, and her young daughter’s friend lives in a house within view of the billboard.
“While I realize free speech is a vital part of being an American, hate speech placed strategically in the Summit Elementary School bus route is in poor taste,” Priest said. “My children shouldn’t be seeing swastikas on their way to school.”
Priest, a local Realtor, said billboards are expensive, so someone is spending a small fortune to post hateful messages when the county has urgent needs in other areas.
“I’m a volunteer with our local GFWC Junior Women’s Club of Butler, and I do my best to give back to my community and spread positivity and kindness,” Priest said. “I’m just really saddened that this type of hate is being displayed in my backyard.”
She said she had spoken with a number of other parents who are upset with the billboard.
Marlene Stein, of Summit Township, said it would be hard for her family to avoid the sign.
“The school bus goes past it, and we also drive by it every day, because we live on Old Route 422,” Stein said.
She said the messages began appearing on Monday.
“I was just blown away by the ignorance of it,” Stein said.
She plans to talk to an attorney to find out if anything can be done about the billboard’s messages.
“I don’t understand how it can be legal,” Stein said. “Aren’t swastikas considered hate speech?”
She said the messages are a detriment to the county. “I think it makes the entire community look bad,” Stein said.
Mike Gallagher, Summit Township’s solicitor, said the property where the billboard sits is owned by Owen Oesterling.
Gallagher said Oesterling and John Placek, who he believes is leasing the land, approached the township planning commission with an application for a sign permit.
He said Placek first posted similar messages a number of years ago on Route 422 in Armstrong County. That billboard and its messaging are still there.
Gallagher explained that by law, the planning commissioner and supervisors must only look at whether an applicant meets the requirements of the zoning ordinance regarding use, height, materials used and other technical factors.
“There is nothing in the ordinance about content,” Gallagher said. “Quite frankly, we are not allowed to regulate content. I think that is a violation of the law according to Supreme Court rulings.”
When the planning commission determined the billboard plans were in compliance with the township’s zoning ordinance, it was recommended to supervisors for approval.
The supervisors unanimously approved the electronic billboard at the Dec. 7 meeting, according to minutes posted on the township’s website.
“Nobody feels good about it,” Gallagher said.
He said it’s a shame students must see the billboard on their way to and from school, but he thinks all the messages represent free speech.
Gallagher said he is not aware of any municipality that regulates the content of billboards in their sign ordinances.
He said if the supervisors were to deny the sign permit application due to content, they could become involved in a costly, taxpayer-funded lawsuit with the property owner.
“Summit Township does not need a lawsuit,” Gallagher said.
Oesterling confirmed on Tuesday that he and Placek attended the Summit Township Planning Commission meeting to request a sign permit, but said whether Placek is leasing the property is “still up in the air.”
He said the messages displayed on the billboard will not be removed, no matter how many parents, residents or motorists object to it.
“It’s freedom of speech, and it’s our constitutional rights,” Oesterling said. “Everyone in the country has freedom of speech, including our school districts.”
He said parents should be concerned about what they read in the public and what their children read in school.
“Are they aware of what their kids are being taught in school?” Oesterling said.
