BUCKSPORT, Maine — Signs directing traffic to the Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory in Prospect were ordered taken down on Monday after a passerby reported the signs to the Maine Department of Transportation.
The large roadside signs were created by Friends of Fort Knox, which took over management of the observatory last spring as part of a deal with the state to manage Fort Knox. The roughly 3-by-5-feet signs feature a photo of the observatory situated atop the bridge support tower and direct the reader to: “Take the elevator ride 400’ up to the bridge observatory, Open every day!”
The signs have been placed at the intersection of Route 15, U.S. Route 1 and the Bucksport-Verona Island bridge and at the scenic lookout on U.S. Route 1 in Prospect for months, according to Leon Seymour, executive director of the Friends. Seymour said the group was unaware that the signs violated Maine’s so-called “billboard law.”
Bob Sinclair, supervisor of right-of-way control for Maine DOT, said the signs are illegal because of where they are located, not because of their size. The law says signs must be located within 1,000 feet of whatever they are advertising.
“It’s no big deal,” Seymour said Monday. “If we can’t put them there, we’ll take them down.”
The signs were reported to Maine DOT by Alan Stearns, former deputy director of Maine’s Bureau of Parks and Lands, which operated Fort Knox and the observatory before the deal with the Friends was inked earlier this year.
“The billboard was blocking safe lines of sight for drivers and pedestrians and bicyclists,” Stearns wrote in an email to the BDN. “There was a quarter-mile traffic backup when I snapped the photo. I hope there were no accidents or injuries caused since the billboard went up. I’m glad the Department of Transportation responded quickly.”
Stearns said he was upset about the privatization of the fort and observatory management, and said in an email that the group was “resorting to illegal billboards to try to make budget.”
“The amateur Friends of Fort Knox need to be watched more closely in the future,” he wrote.
Seymour was quick to point out that unlike the 85 percent of the admission fee to Fort Knox that the Friends keep, the organization does not get any money from the observatory.
“There’s nothing nefarious about it,” he said. “Frankly, we’re trying to help the state because they have to pay for the upkeep of the observatory.”
Sinclair with the Maine DOT also didn’t see any reason for concern. He said on Monday that the DOT routinely receives calls about signs violating the “on-premise rule.”
“Typically, if we think it’s done because no one knew the rules, we just work with them to get the signs removed,” he said. “We like voluntary compliance, and we usually get it.”
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.
I have seen where the signs were and they were not causing any traffic backups, nor where they obstructing anyone’s line of vision. Sounds like someone is upset with the fort being managed by the Friends of Fort Knox.
Well, I am, for one.
So am I. The Fort belongs to the people of Maine not the FOFK nor the Americans for Prosperity!
1,000 feet, seems pretty black and white
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind
Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?
So am I.
I wonder if Mr Stearns went to Friends of Fort Knox first to resolve the matter.
Hi jybntn – I’ll apologize in advance for using a reply to your post, to actually reply to several posters.
MaineDOT owns and controls the right of way, so they are the correct people to call.
It is illegal to post many kinds of signs in the right of way. There is some difference between putting a sign up for the annual benefit supper for the local ball team, and the permanent signs under consideration in this article. The temporary signs are still illegal, but who has the time and energy to chase them down? And they are temporary.
MaineDOT actually is quite forbearing about many issues where they could put their foot down. How about strawberry vendors using the shoulder of 55-mph state roads as their roadside stand? I’ve seen people cone off the shoulder for the purpose of advertising their yard sale. Since when is the shoulder for their private use?
There are signs up directing people to the observatory (including one very stupid one on the Maine Turnpike that tells people to go all the way up to Bangor before backtracking to Prospect, but I digress). If more signing is desired, then The Friends of Fort Knox could do the OBDS signing, same as Angler’s Restaurant or Perry’s Nut House.
If you folks do not like the law, that is OK, and there is a process for getting it changed. But be careful what you ask for.
Warren Spaulding
Retired MaineDOT
Region Manager, Eastern Region
Bangor
Glad to see I am not the only one who felt the observatory sign on the Turnpike was stupid…..
you got out before you were put out. you and your big savings plan that has bank roll all your friends. o yes it is know very well around the horn. You had better hide under the rock.
Nfork, your post is inane. I guess that is why you don’t use your real name.
Kiss off.
You’d have a better chance of making sense if you actually had some idea of what you were talking about.
Are you the guy selling the fudge at Perrys or the one in the out house?
You, sir, are nekulturny, as the Russians would say. Amuse yourself by looking up the translation, and take a break from posting, until you are lucid again.
This brings to mind the following…
So Irving / Circle K can be forced to remove the dangerous signs they place at the ends of the store entances that block visibility?? I have complained to them before and wondered if the issue could be forced.
You have to pull out halfway into the roadway in order to see oncoming traffic. It would appear that they are sliding under the “temporary” rule……
If you have complained to the store, and it is really a big deal to you, I would suggest calling DOT.
I did not realize that the state was in control of that strip even with portable signage and yes, I will complain to the DOT.
Hey, Mikey. Reread my comment. I meant it a different way than you read it. I know it’s easy to jump on the defense around here, but I wasn’t trying to belittle your claim. I don’t even know which Irving you are talking about. I have no problems driving in or out of the Irving on Broadway but I agree, if a driver reports poor visibility I am glad to know that DOT is ready to go fix it. gl2u
Comment edited, thank you.
As Mr. Spaulding writes–we are smart to have the billboard laws–and would irrevocably change the nature of our state (for the worse) to repeal these.
I agree with Janice…I drive by there every day…there is no line of sight obstruction…..who in the BPL put Mr Stearns up to this vendetta…shame!
I doubt that the BPL is involved. Sterns has a mind of his own.
Why is there no mention of the other signs at this location…..one is even visible in the photo…great example of non-biased reporting Mario!
Is it possible that the other sign is within 1000 feet of the business/attraction it’s advertising? It says in the article that it wasn’t the sign itself that was the problem, but the location of it.
If you have not been to the top of the observatory you are missing a beautiful view.
Been there many times, it is beautiful up there.
I lived down that way for many years but have never been up. My grandfather took the cake on the view for me when he took me over the area in his Cesna as a child. A memory and an image I’ll never forget.
Its the tallest public bridge observatory in the world, in case anyone didnt know. A pretty nifty factoid.
Why should you only be able to engage in this form of speech only within a certain area?
Exactly, we should be able to put billboards up and down every street in Maine, after all, it’s our CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to BLIGHT and we all know that billboards are good for business and what’s good enough for business is good enough for you. And just in case you didn’t get it, that was sarcasm.
Maine is open for business……..
Commercial speech does not enjoy full First Amendment protection as other forms of speech do.
If a sign has to be 1000 feet from what it’s advertising, shouldn’t a political campaign sign be in a landfill or a cesspool? Oh wait, they voted themselves a special exception. Never mind.
I’d like to read his entire e-mail to BDN, he sounds like a nasty person! “There was a quarter-mile traffic backup when I snapped the photo.” because he probably parked his car in the breakdown lane… this is so laugh-worthy! Friends of the Fort, keep up you’re good work.
OR everyone stopped in the middle of the road like they do with constructions and accidents and wanted to stare at him taking a picture to have something to talk about for the rest of the trip “Oh my gosh, what do you think that guy was up to taking a picture of one of them signs?”
Hey DOT, don’t you got some pot holes to fill and roads to repair? Hey speaking of things obstructing view and line of sight how about some tall grass blocking views on state roads that could be cleared back? How about them snow banks in the winter time piling 10 feet high, don’t see you telling people to shrink the snowbanks so people can pull out in traffic. Those signs are harmless compared to these line of sight issues I just brought up
DOT is no longer responsible for keeping the grass cut along the roads and highways as Governor LePage has now contracted that service out to a private company. My guess is it’s a relative.
That explains the grass, maybe they could do something about snowbanks and repair some roads instead of actually throwing crap patches in them all the time
Their available funds have been cut drmatically by LePage.
There are consequences to cutting funding for government functions.
“Their available funds have been cut drmatically by LePage.”
************************
No, no, no!
The available funds had been cut by every complicit whining hand and mouth that had begged for money from vote obsessed liberal politicians for decades.
Highway funds and highway bonds are dedicated funds and cannot be used for other purposes.
There have been bonds passed by the voters that the Governor refuses to sell. Make your complaints to his office.
I have lived in Maine and been schooled here. He may not take my complaint seriously, he will look down at me instead.
It was done before Lepage. O yes your old buddy John did that. Check it out know it all.
McKernan?
This is just one section of the DOT, keeping the roads safe with good sightlines, and enforcing the billboard law, from which we all benefit–natural beauty as well as the tourism economy.
Glad to see my taxes at work here, and thank you, state workers.
You always have someone in the bunch…
1,000 feet from what they are advertising? I have seen many supper signs, yard sale signs and many other things there and I am thinking that most are more then 1,000 feet away from the one street light we’ve got! I hope that they can maybe put signs somewhere on Verona closer to the Fort and bridge I mean how are people going to know that there is even a way up there if just passing through?
Isn’t this the same guy who sent a fax about some mural blocking the view of a wall?
No, it wasn’t. I know Alan Stearns quite well, and I can assure you that his politics don’t line up with the governor’s……rofl really hard on that one, Jake.
Alan Stearns was an attorney for MDOT. Google it.
He has a Juris Doctor, but was not an attorney, per se. He served as the liaison with the Legislature, and I believe he headed the Environmental Office for a time, but he was not a staff attorney.
Didn’t the State of Maine put up a sign advertizing the Observatory in Southern Maine, I believe in Kittery or on the Maine Turnpike when it opened? If so, I think that is more than the 1,000 feet. I remember seeing the sign and wondering why it was so far South.
The FoFK group has been a thorn in this communities side for years, though. It’s nice that they are active and take some initiative, but they’ve become something of an elitist little club, kind of like in high school, and acted towards other groups in the community somewhat like a school-yard bully.
Very not-FRIENDly.
With Ms Weston at the helm the FOFK is simply an arm of the extreme right-wing political group called Americans for Prosperity. She is the Chairman for the Maine chapter of this group and, as verified by my FOAA request, bargained for the current lease with Dr. Beardsley (where have we heard that name lately?) and the Department of Conservation from her desk at the office of this extremist group, The Americans for Prosperity. Regarding this lease, fully 90% or more of her email correspondence originated from this email address! This lease was a mistake and must be revoked!
Get a life, Stearns.
How about all the E/W signs in state right aways. Nothing being done about that BS. What you think Buddy get to work on it!
omg, and lets arrest people who pick their nose in public. DOT get a life.
DOT? So they should ignore the complaint? The law should be changed, but how can you fault them for enforcing a law, especially when someone reports a violation?
Wasn’t there a proposal to reform the stupid billboard law so a business could have a sign bigger than a shingle ?? I believe there was and the moon bats got their panties all in a bunch over it and it went nowhere..You made your bed , now you get to sleep in it….
The violation wasn’t the size of the signs it was the location.
The law is the law.
dumb law that is
Dumb laws are blindly followed by dumb people.
But smart people get arrested for disobeying them?
Smart people tend to not get arrested.
The redundancy is redundant.
The slippery slope we’ve just about broken our legs on, as witnessed in some of these comments is the long, high, elitist nose of Big Government Progressivism. C’Mon, Progs…admit it…for decades you have taken every political opportunity to push legislation that prevented anyone from earning private (taxable!) income. Your message of socio/economic snobbery has been clear for a very long time.
Congratulations! You did it and can pride yourselves with the current unemployment stats!
Billboards? “NO”. Business tax reductions? “NO”. Lemonade stands? “NO”…
For “anewvoice” you sure are parroting the same old tired lies. If you like billboards so much, leave the state. There are plenty elsewhere.
Thank you for your well wishes but you shouldn’t have been so kind as I’m not going anywhere so don’t need your kindness. I can speak for myself very well and do not need your words in my posts as much as I appreciate your help.
How much is the FOFN paying the State?
Looks like Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.
As a former deputy director of the Bureau of Parks and Lands Mr. Sterns obviously knows the full situation here and understands what the FOFK, Mr. Seymour, Ms. Weston, and the current republican administration in Augusta are REALLY doing with Fort Knox. You, and Enjoying, need to educate yourselves before throwing out casual remarks like these rude and unjustified comments.
Enjoythehumor and Ricko take notice!
Flag all you like FOFK, I’ll just repost it.
Since the Friends are in an arrangement with the state, and they are doing the state a favor, the state can and should waive the reg. OR the state can install more and appropriate signage to help them out. It’s in the state’s interest to help them succeed.
So will you say the same thing when they put up signs saying “Fort Knox, brought to you by XYZ Corporation”? Fort Knox is not brought to us by any corporation nor even the FOFK. Fort Knox is brought to us by the citizens of Maine! It is in the peoples interest, the citizens of Maine, that Fort Knox be returned to the people. If the FOFK wants to contribute funding to the Fort fine. Just let them do it from an offsite location and with no authority over the administration or operation of the Fort. That should be handled exclusively by the DOC and no one else.
So I take it you were against the arrangement?
The FOFK should all read the real history of Henry Knox.
http://www.amazon.com/Liberty-Men-Great-Proprietors-Revolutionary/dp/0807842826
I for one was opposed to the Friends of Fort Knox taking over the Fort. LePage is trying to privatize everything in sight. His next target is C resent Beach in Cape Elizabeth. He’s trying to privatize all the State Parks that bring in the most money that helps upkeep the other State Parks than when not enough money is available for the State Parks to run on there own he’ll say lets privatize them all.
Privatization of public holdings, indeed, privatization of the vast majority of most government functions and responsibilities, is GOP doctrine of the highest order. Unfortunately Republicans both state and national have been successful at this by chipping away at government services for years and will continue to do so until stopped by voters. To wit: outsourcing and mercenaries in the military, charter schools, corporate run prisons, privatized job resource centers, airport security, port authority, NASA and our space program, to mention just a few. During the Bush years they were almost able to privatize social security. Thank God that didn’t happen! And of course there is the attack on public parks and lands which, sadly, are being privatized now at an unprecedented rate. Why? Because the GOP is focused entirely on their own agenda of enriching the few and not on serving the citizens of America. A great deal of this GOP effort is being funded by the Koch group called Americans for Prosperity. Who’s prosperity I wonder? Ms. Weston, a former Maine GOP Senator, is the Chairperson for Americans for Prosperity chapter here in Maine. It is no coincidence that she is also Chairperson of the Board of Directors for the Friends of Fort Knox. It is all an evil conspiracy, no I’m not using that phrase lightly, by the GOP to privatize government as well as public holdings and give it all to big business at the expense of the American citizen. We are losing our country people and it is time to fight back before it is gone. It is easier to stop something bad from happening than it is to react to something bad that has already happened. Please, vote for democrat candidates this next election and save America for Americans.
True friends don’t let friends vote Progressive.
“Stearns said he was upset about the privatization of the fort and observatory management, and said in an email that the group was “resorting to illegal billboards to try to make budget.”
“The amateur Friends of Fort Knox need to be watched more closely in the future,” he wrote.
The period could have come after ‘management.’ Someone lost his job.
He mad.
Too many signs _ _ _ _ ing up the scenery. Just like the political signs that are still in spots here and there….
One might circumvent this law by having signs that are not stuck in the ground and can be moved around. You see a few of them right at the edge of the road if you live near mom and pop hotels or restaurants. On the back of parked trucks or vans you also see signs that are obviously designed to get out around the regulation.
I ran into this sign violation thing last month. For several years there has been a small sign on my sister’s lawn saying that our B&B is just ahead. A DOT officer came by to drop off my sign and said it was illegal. He said I can post it up the road a bit on my own property if I want.
He thanked me for being so friendly and understanding and said that some people were very nasty and said unkind things when he removed their signs. I looked up at this 6 foot 6 two-hundred-fifty pound man and said I was going to stick with being friendly and understanding.
Sounds like the same guy that stopped at Cook’s Crossing in Searsport and told them to take down their flag pole as it MIGHT pose a hazard if somebody went off the road and hit it..It wasn’t in the ROW either..Mr. Cook told him to , well you get the idea…LOL…Old Glory still flies….Government on all levels has gotten to big for their britches and have forgotten who they work for..Time for that to change…
Real question is, if he hadnt been a monster and intimidating, would you have been so nice? Id probably have told him to stuff it regardless. Its a sign. People need to grow up. A lot.
Its just a sign not causing any harm to anybody.. sounds like someone doesn’t have enough to do
About time DOT removing these Illegal Billboards.
Stearns obviously is pissy. Its right there in the article, plain as day. Of course he called to whine about it. What a tosser. Its just a sign… That guy needs to grow up and set aside his childish vendetta.
Say, does anyone else find Mario’s beard to be absolutely fantastic?
Flag all you like FOFK, I’ll just repost it.
Two words: Officious bureaucrats
Meanwhile, they US Cellular run billboards. Hard to argue with the big bucks?
Sour Grapes!