ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 24, 1997 TAG: 9702240096
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KEITH T. AUSTIN
REGARDING your Feb. 9 editorial, "Public trees vs. Joe Camel," I would like to share a few facts to set the record straight.
Fewer than 3 percent of the billboards in the Roanoke and New River valleys and Lynchburg display any tobacco product; therefore, your headline begins your editorial with a untruth. It isn't Joe Camel but thousands of local businesses, hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions in Virginia that rely on this form of advertising to let the traveling and local public know what services are available. Currently, only 1.5 percent of billboards in our area advertise Camel, and none would be affected under this bill.
I found your example of the child complaining that he couldn't see the billboard for the tree preposterous. Maybe a more likely example would be what I have heard from my children: "Daddy, I need to go" or "Daddy, I feel sick" or "Daddy, can we stop for the night?" Times like those, I am grateful for information in the form of billboards.
In your Feb. 11 edition, Beth Macy wrote a wonderful column (``Ads aimed at making people think before the abuse starts'') about the Roanoke Valley Advertising Federation's billboard campaign that addresses child abuse and about how one youngster was impressed by the campaign.
In reality, we're talking about trimming vegetation the state has allowed to grow up in front of legally erected and legally maintained billboards. All trimming must be done in accordance with Virginia Department of Transportation standards - by VDOT permit, under its supervision, and with a VDOT-approved arborist. The legislation would allow trimming only up to the point where the vegetation exceeds 4 inches in diameter, to allow the billboard to be visible to the motorist.
You said it would allow destruction of 30-foot trees. According to certified arborists, a tree that grows 30 feet from the point where it is 4 inches in diameter would be more an exception than the rule. Much of the trimming would be pruning, and arborists also tell us that pruning will likely make the vegetation healthier. That isn't destruction.
The vast majority of billboards in the Roanoke and New River valleys and the Lynchburg area would not be affected by this legislation. It's the few billboards that over time have become obscured that would be allowed to be seen. Our industry pays an annual permit to Virginia for each billboard under VDOT control for the right to have the billboard visible from the road.
Our company has created new jobs in the past few years in the Roanoke area. Hundreds of local businesses use our medium, to the point that we're sold out during several months of the year. In addition, organizations such as the Girl Scouts, the Science Museum of Western Virginia, Mill Mountain Theater, the Boy Scouts, the American Cancer Society and dozens of others rely on donations of space to advertise their quality-of-life programs.
The industry, as an organization, hasn't contributed generously to lawmakers' political campaigns, as you stated. We do, however, make every effort to assist those service organizations that contribute so much to the life of our communities.
I enjoy our countryside as much as any other resident. Where there is a permitted, legally maintained commercial activity, it should be allowed to continue by reasonable efforts.
Keith T. Austin is vice president and general manager of Lamar Advertising Co. in Roanoke.
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