Letters to the Editor

To the Editor:

My pet peeve with Pennsylvanian and Morrisons Cove highways is the prevalence of huge billboards.

The article accompanying a map in the Sept. 9, 2021, edition of the Herald (Page A-10) regarding the billboards in Pennsylvania seemed to present a rosy view of having billboards along our highways. I myself counted almost 30 billboards between east Freedom and Martinsburg advertising some local businesses but also fast food operations and beer.

I believe that the state of Pennsylvania and the local communities should do more to end this highway blight – specifically, eliminating them altogether. Four states (Vermont, Maine, Alaska and Hawaii) have already eliminated them. Maine’s efforts I am aware of as I have lived there. Maine was the second state to eliminate the billboard scourge and they did it in 1968 (Vermont being the first). It took seven years for the total elimination of the billboards, the last being removed in 1984.

It may take Pennsylvania longer to remove all of them, but it would be worth the effort. Maine in that time has become recognized as one of the most picturesque states in the Union. Pennsylvania has just as many picturesque location as Maine but they are obscured by huge commercial signs.

Bob Blanchard

Martinsburg PA

Publisher’s Note: Mr. Blanchard, you are not alone in your concern about billboards. There have been efforts around the country, including in Pa., to reduce or eliminate the numbers of large roadside signs.

Our quick online research indicates that most efforts have been legal efforts filed by municipalities against billboards. The courts, however, have not been receptive to most of the lawsuits.

Note that the Herald article on the issue came from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania’s July/August 2021 newsletter. We were not able to find an official stand on billboards by the center. The article was intended to be informative, not a promotion of billboards.