A controversial billboard for the Proud Boys near a Clinton County high school has been removed following an onslaught of opposition from area residents and people all over the country.
The billboard had been placed late last week by Lamar Advertising, a national company with a Collinsville office, along Old U.S. 50, just outside of Breese to the west.
“The sign is down,” Clinton County Board Chairman Brad Knolhoff said Tuesday afternoon. “My understanding from Lamar is that it’s down, and it’s not going back up. I hope they stand by that.”
On Monday night, Knolhoff had presided over a County Board meeting where a standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 teachers, businessmen, attorneys and other concerned citizens had come to protest the Proud Boys recruiting billboard.
Bucky Miller, 45, of Aviston, said Tuesday that technicians from Lamar showed up earlier that morning, unpinned the billboard, rolled it up and carried it away in a truck.
“This is a classic example of what a grassroots, community-based, non-violent effort can do,” he said. “I believe in free speech, but it goes both ways. We didn’t want this symbol of hate in our community.”
A Lamar spokesman in Collinsville didn’t respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Miller said he had told Lamar that billboard opponents weren’t going to stop posting comments on social media, calling and emailing public officials and pressuring other businesses in the St. Louis area to stop advertising with the company.
“There’s not a company in the world that would say, ‘Yeah, put me up there with a sign for the Proud boys above me,’” he said.
Knolhoff had opened Monday night’s meeting by saying that he knew why most people were there and that he’d been working “nonstop” since Saturday to get more information on the issue.
The billboard encouraged people to join the Proud Boys, a far-right, neo-fascist militant organization that has been associated with political violence, including the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Some local residents had been particularly angered by its placement near Central Community High School.
“That sign does not define Clinton County,” Knolhoff said at the meeting. “What defines Clinton County are great schools that not only ensure success for our youth, but their well-being and safety.
“While we may not be able to regulate the sign and what it represents, rest assured that we have one of the best sheriff’s departments around. Should hate or violence occur, his department will take action. We have a state’s attorney that will prosecute crime to the fullest extent of the law. Once (people are) convicted, we have a judge who will hand out the harshest of sentences. The officials we have in place take your safety and well-being very seriously.”
The County Board typically allows members of the public to speak for three minutes each at monthly meetings, but officials didn’t stop those who went over the time limit on Monday.
Miller stepped up to the lectern first and later shook hands with all of the nearly 20 other people who spoke.
“This community and area should unite behind the fact that we do not want an extremist hate group advertising in our area,” Miller said. “And make no mistake, that’s what the Proud Boys are to multiple countries around the earth. Multiple times, they’ve showed up in communities and advocated violence.”
Miller said he was first alerted to the billboard by his wife, Laura Thoman, a Hispanic woman who felt unsafe because of it. She wiped away tears throughout the meeting.
Some speakers said the Proud Boys chose Clinton County for a reason, suggesting that bigotry had gone unchecked in the community.
“I heard racial slurs growing up and being part of the LGBT community was called homophobic slurs on multiple occassions,” said Naomi Knapp, 18, of Breese, who was leaving for college the next day.
“It’s sad that I have to spend my last day here fighting against something that should have immediately been taken down. I can not imagine the harm it can do by perpetuating the hate that is already underlying here by staying up a second longer.”
Earlier in the day, Knolhoff had explained that County Board members couldn’t require the billboard to be taken down because of the First Amendment right to free speech, even if they personally disagreed with its message.
The billboard already had been moved once. It originally had been paired with a sign advertising St. Joseph’s Hospital in Breese. On Monday afternoon, a worker moved the billboard to the other side of the stand so it was facing the opposite direction.
Dennis Middendorf, a retired Clinton County state’s attorney, said opposition to the billboard should be non-partisan.
“This is an opportunity for every elected official that we have in Clinton County to express themselves to the county, the districts you represent and the people who look to you how you stand on this issue,” he said. “I’m not asking you to (remove the billboard). Maybe you can’t stop it, but you can condemn it, and that’s what we’re asking you to do. Take a public vote, make your positions known if you’re an official or a candidate for office, and if you’re a business owner who rents a sign from (Lamar), let that company know how you feel about it.”
County Board members then voted unanimously for a non-binding resolution condemning all forms of racism and bigotry in Clinton County, resulting in a thunderous round of applause.
Editor's note: This story was originally published by the Belleville News-Democrat. Joshua Carter and Teri Maddox are reporters for the BND, a news partner of St. Louis Public Radio.
