Ringgold officials may rethink hated sign

Ringgold, Ga., attorney McCracken Poston took to Facebook last week to express how much he hates his town's electronic sign.

He said it blocked all the colorful fall leaves nearby and didn't fit in with Ringgold's historic motif. He ended the post with a picture and a message: #movethatsign.

"I've never done a hashtag before in my life," he said. "I don't even think it works on Facebook. ... But it's like everybody had this pent-up frustration about this sign."

Poston asked his friends to express their own opinions. Many agreed with him.

"AMEN!"

"I have always detested that sign!"

"That belongs in New York or some big city, not in small town America!"

photo Ringgold Mayor Joe Barger wants to prevent ginkgo trees in Citizens Park from being replaced with maples.

In response, Vice Mayor Nick Milwood asked Mayor Joe Barger to call a special meeting for 6:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall. The council will discuss whether to move the sign to another part of Ringgold, away from downtown.

For about two months, the area has been under construction as part of a renovation city leaders have planned since 2007.

"If we are going to do something about it," Milwood said, "it would need to be very soon."

Poston believes people are actively protesting the sign now, six years after officials hoisted it up, because the council has shown it is open to change. On Monday, the council voted to alter construction plans for Citizens Park.

The original plans called for removal of two ginkgo trees planted in the 1980s. Barger planted one, and a Boy Scout troop planted another in the mayor's honor. When Barger found out about the planned removal, he asked the council to preserve them with a new plan.

"I couldn't be more pleased about keeping these trees," he said after the council agreed last week. "The city, in that area, will continue to look really, really good with those trees there."

Poston said the electronic sign entered Ringgold with much controversy in 2008. About 200 residents signed a petition asking the council to keep the electronic sign away from downtown.

Poston said the council tabled its discussion temporarily but later, when anti-sign energy died down, voted to bring it to the intersection of LaFayette, Nashville and Tennessee streets.

In the middle of the night, Poston said, city officials cut down an evergreen tree and replaced it with the pole that would later hold the sign.

City Manager Dan Wright did not return multiple messages asking about the issue Friday afternoon.

"That triangle road has been there 150 years," Poston said of the LaFayette-Nashville-Tennessee streets intersection. "And then they put this big sign in the middle of it against everybody's wishes.

"It's almost like, 'There's a new toy; let's find a place for it.' I think the intentions were good, the execution was horrible and the end product is universally disliked."

Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at tjett@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476.

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