Robin Gibson

rgibson@muncie.gannett.com

MUNCIE — Amid a tense atmosphere nationwide over report after report of police-action shootings and police officers being shot, it only took a billboard to set off an online controversy in Muncie.

A billboard reading "Hate cops? The next time you need help call a crackhead" was visible for at least a few hours on Saturday on an electronic billboard near the Wheeling and Riverside intersection in Muncie. Megan Thomas said she noticed it around 1 p.m. Saturday while walking with her niece along the Riverwalk. She was offended not just by what she called a message that was "vulgar, discriminatory to many different classes of people in our city," but also by the fact that it appeared to have gone up right before the start of a planned demonstration against police brutality, starting just a few blocks away.

"I was very ashamed that something so dividing was present in Muncie," Thomas said on Sunday.

Her Facebook post of a photo of the billboard, along with a question about whether tax dollars had paid for the sign and contact information for the billboard company, prompted a flurry of responses, positive and negative, and — as of Monday afternoon — more than 1,000 shares. Thomas said she drove past the sign around 5 p.m. Saturday, and saw by that time the "Hate cops?..." one was no longer in the rotation appearing on the electronic billboard.

As of Sunday morning, the billboard featured just a series of ads for car dealerships, a local restaurant, the city bus system and Hometown Outdoor Advertising, the company that owns the electronic billboard.

By Monday afternoon, another couple of notices had joined the rotation, one reading "Love, Respect, Support Law Enforcement," and the other "Love, Support, Support Law Enforcement."

Public awareness of the earlier sign remained high, however; while The Star Press was waiting to take a picture of the new sign on Monday afternoon, a passenger in a car stopped at the Wheeling traffic light called out "Is that sign still up?"

Chris Johnson, general manager of Muncie Liquors, said he heard about the original sign on Saturday when a clerk at the Wheeling store phoned him about a person coming in to complain about the sign. Noting that Muncie Liquors doesn't own or operate the billboard, just rents space for it in its parking lot, Johnson said they'd called the billboard company to say they were hearing complaints about the sign, and were told it would be taken down immediately and reworded.

Johnson said he was concerned about online criticism unfairly aimed at Muncie Liquors by people who mistakenly believed the sign belonged to the store, but said he believed by Monday word was out that the liquor store was not connected to the controversial sign. “This is not us, this is not our mentality, this is not how we feel," he said. Expecting to be deluged with calls or complaints on Monday, instead he had heard from no one about the sign before being contacted by The Star Press.

Thomas questioned who had paid for the original sign, particularly whether it might have been funded with tax dollars.

The Muncie police chief's office and Hometown Outdoor Advertising did not respond on Monday to messages left by The Star Press.

Muncie Police Sgt. Chris Kirby on Saturday night posted on Facebook a defense of Muncie Liquors, noting the business "had absolutely nothing to do" with the sign. He also wrote that the city, the police department and the Fraternal Order of Police weren't connected to the sign either.

An online search shows the "Hate cops?..." slogan is widely available on T-shirts.

Contact planning editor Robin Gibson at 765-213-5855 and follow her on Twitter @RobinGibsonTSP.

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