Minutemen plan new sign
Billboard recently defaced will be replaced with 'stronger message'

By Phil Anderson
The Capital-Journal
Published Sunday, August 26, 2007

A week after its billboard was vandalized at Interstate 470 and S.W. Fairlawn, a Tulsa, Okla.-based Minuteman organization said another sign critical of U.S. immigration policy will return to Topeka.

"The billboard will come back, only with a stronger message," said Dan Howard, 43, of Tulsa, head of the Outraged Patriots organization that helped sponsor the sign.

Topeka police ask anyone with information on the Outraged Patriots billboard vandalism to call detectives at (785) 368-9400 or Crime Stoppers at (785) 234-0007.

The sign, which had bold, black lettering stating "Had enough?," showed a picture of a Mexican flag that had been placed above an upside-down American flag on a pole at a Montebello, Calif., high school in March 2006. The billboard also included the group's Web site, www.OutragedPatriots.com.

Howard said Outraged Patriots, in conjunction with the Kansas Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, paid $1,500 to have the sign placed in Topeka.

Police reports state the vandalism occurred between 3 p.m. Aug. 16, the day the sign was installed, and 5 p.m. Aug. 17. Howard said he thought the vandalism occurred during the first night the sign was up.

A swastika had been spray-painted on the sign along with the words "Fight racism" and "Fight fascism." The sign, which was visible to eastbound traffic on I-470, has since been taken down.

Topeka police are investigating the vandalism, which did an estimated $1,500 in damage to the 15-by-50 foot cloth sign, which previously had been placed in Tulsa, Okla., Oklahoma City and Little Rock, Ark.

Howard said there had been no similar incidents at the previous locations.

"I think it was done by someone trying to silence us," Howard said. "I think it's probably someone from the illegal immigration movement or some ultra-left socialist activist that's trying to play the race card."

Howard said his group's message has nothing to do with race but rather is about restoring patriotism, nationalism and the enforcement of federal laws.

Howard, a former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper, said he paid $3,000 for the manufacture of the sign and for its first placement in Tulsa. The sign weighs 80 pounds.

Since then, he said, hundreds of Minutemen and sympathizers "from California to Massachusetts" have ponied up from $5 to $500 apiece to keep the sign in front of people.

Howard runs an aircraft sales company in Tulsa and keeps the Outraged Patriots Web site up to date with the posting of stories on illegal immigration issues.

Ed Hayes, Heart of American Chapter director of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, said no one had claimed responsibility for the vandalism.

Capital-Journal staff writer Tim Carpenter contributed to this report.

http://cjonline.com/stories/082607/loc_194674760.shtml