Thread: Clio Highway Sign Controversy

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Only on 12: Clio Highway Sign Controversy

July 13, 2006, 09:43 PM

If you're traveling down Alabama Highway 10 in Barbour County, as thousands do every day, one of the first things you'll notice when you hit the Clio city limits is a sign that reads: "Mexicans, slow down! The Andy Griffith Show is on duty! The city wants your food money!"

It's a strange, bold statement on the property of a trailer park where people surprisingly had little to say Thursday. Owner, Bobby Cox, admits he posted the sign himself several months ago. Cox rents trailer homes and apartments to several hundred Mexican immigrants in the area and says he's furious with the way city police harass and unfairly ticket Hispanics.

Cox says, "What we've got is twenty percent of the police force starting trouble. Our police force is supposed to hold down trouble and this is not what we've got."

Cox's charge of racial profiling seems out of place in light of a ticket he himself received last Saturday for speeding. And his message might serve as a better warning to the area residents if it were written in Spanish, but city officials believe they aren't the target audience.

Clio Police Chief, Richard Johnson, says, "His intentions when he put [the sign] up wasn't to warn the Hispanics, but to insult this administration and the whole town."

Most casual observers are catching an eyeful and perhaps leaving Clio with mixed feelings.

Clio resident, Larry Jackson, says, "A lot of people come through this area, a lot of trucks. People come in and out. That sign could be interpreted as a different situation."

Regardless of what folks here in Clio think about the sign, one thing its effectively doing is bringing light to the growing problem with illegal immigration. Chief Johnson says a large number of Hispanics in Clio are driving without licenses or car tags. If anything, Johnson turns a blind eye to it because his department doesn't have the resources to really tackle the issue.

Buddy Cox, who once served as Clio's mayor, says criminalizing a demographic that brings three $3.2 million dollars to the city's economy is dangerous. Others say reckless free speech isn't the solution.

Clio mayor, Jack Pelfrey, has asked Bobby Cox to remove the sign. So far, we're told the city hasn't received any official complaints.

It's simple, just pass an ordinance making it illegal to rent to anyone who can not provide proof of their legal right to be in the United States. Mr. Cox, the illegal immigrant slumlord would be out of business overnite! I'm sure the city government is quite content to continue feeding at the trough of illegal immigration and do nothing. It's really amazing what people will do for money!