War of the Roses
The barn-painting reached its heighth in 1956 with over 850 barns bearing the words painted in black and white. But the 1965 Highway Beautification Act singled out barn roof messages along federal funded highways for eliminated. Less than 100 of the classics still exist. In Tennessee, some have been made some of them historic landmarks.
Did Lady Bird's efforts to eliminate the offensive barn roofs, etc., fix the "problem" of unwanted advertizing alone major highways? The answer is a definate "no".
The Fall 1996 edition of Scenic North Carolina News explains:
"The intent of the 1965 Highway Beautification Act (HBA) was to protect the visual environment of rural and scenic areas along federally funded highways. But it hasn't quite worked out that way.
The HBA generally prohibits new billboards, but it makes an exception for areas that are considered to be "industrial" and "commercial." This exception has swallowed the rule and hundreds of thousands of new billboards have been erected since the HBA was passed.
Scenic North Carolina referred to what they called "phony zoning": the city fathers zone a cornfield on the edge of town as commercial/industrial and a few days later it's covered with billboards. On average, the town fathers in question visit the spot twice a year to face Washington and thumb their noses at Lady Bird and the various heads of the U.S. Department of Transportation who have held the position since LBJ left the Whitehouse.
Personally, I'd pay to watch bi-annual ritual.
The N.C. Court of Appeals has upheld the town government's on the issue. The State's Supreme Court has refused to hear the case.
Lady Bird got rid of barns, but not bill boards.
Lady Bird targeted and destroyed what has come to be recognized as folk art. The Lady Bird Act attacked private business on private property for the sake of asthetic concerns that had little to do with real environmental quality: few animals become endangered species because of bill boards or what a farmer paints on his barn. The act was government unnecessary control.
But more than that, the fact that a first lady from Texas did so much to end the advertising of an Appalachian institution, I confess, considerably irritates me.
The second bone I have to pick with Lady Bird has to do with flowers.
I don't mind most wild flowers. I even like some. But I hate wild roses.
Let me rephrase that: I hate roses. I hate roses. I hate roses. I
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