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...And They're Off!!!!!!
Welcome folks to the 2004 Run for the Yard Signs on the beautiful Green Mile in NW Oklahoma City!! This is an almost annual event but every four years we hold the LONG RUN, starting in July and going right on in to the November elections. Even though the track is only a mile long, the contestants keep on running until they are out of the running by a vote of the people. Since this is the first year that the Run for Yard Signs has been broadcast, we are having to rely on memory regarding past performance of all the runners. Let's meet this year's contestants in alphabetical order:
Bob Anthony: Anthony has been a contender before but not at this level. Bob has a really pretty sign, white on blue with 3 red streaks trailing a white star. Contains first & last name, star graphic and position desired. Sheet plastic on wire is a good cost saving measure. The red definately helps it stand out. Anthony's current score: 2
Doug Barry: (no website found) I don't remember seeing Doug around before but he does stand out in the crowd with the only burgundy sign around. The sign has first/last name & position, but it is a single color (I don't count white) and rather drab. Again, sheet plastic on wire which looks to be a popular configuration this year. Barry's current score on the Green Mile: 3
Todd Lamb: Out of the gate with a two color sign, two blue bars with a brilliant red bar in the center. First/last name and position. This is the third contender that we have seen with sheet plastic on wire (or SPOW). Lamb's current score: 2
Guy Leibmann: (no website found) Leibmann has been out here before and it look slike he is relying on name recognition this time around. He has a sign that would bore a person to tears. First/last name & position, but it is blue on white with little emphasis on the blue. Even though he has a star graphic and kinda a flag-thing going here, this SPOW has nothing to draw attention to it. Leibmann's current score: 2
Mike Meleen: A single color SPOW that relies heavily on the blue and then runs right into another contender. Mike does do a cute "huge M" for easier id of his sign. It contains first/last name, position & the website. A few small star graphics and I think this adds up to a nice informational sign, not eye catching, but effective. Also, some of the signs have #82 written on the top (some sort of code for who placed it). Meleen's current score: 11
Dennis Pence: (no website found) YELLOW!!! BIG!! GREEN!! YELLOW!! BIG!!! What else can be said? oh, yeah, how about "A SLOGAN" and "PLASTIC BOARD". Dennis has gone whole hog on these signs and uses colors that nobody else has (good for quick ID), high quality materials (Heavy plastic-board type stuff or HPBTS), a unique size that is 50% bigger than the other HPBTS sign, and let's us see his slogan. The only downside with the "Reducing the Burden of Government" slogan is that I wonder if Dennis has taken into account the cost to the local governments of having to collect all of these illegally placed signs. It should also be noted, that I doubt if we'll be seeing anymore of Mr. Pence. His only signs were placed on the NW corner of Council & Hefner and I have only seen other south of there. Pence's current score: 4
Stewart Shapiro: (no website found) A new entry that goes oout of the gate late, but makes up for lost time. With a catchy red on white HPBTS sign and a shotgun approach to sign placement, Shapiro is making a name for himself. In fact, it was this contender that actually started the broadcast of this year's Run for the Yard Signs. With insanely heavy coverage (signs side by side for almost a full mile) all over town, I'm sure some of the local greenies and mowing folks will be repeating Mr. Shaprio's name for a long time. Shapiro's current score: 29* (It should be noted that these were the signs left between 113th & Hefner after SS picked up everything north of there. A more accurate count should have been 58, but he did pull out slightly)
Mike Thompson: Rather than yard signs, Mr. Thompson can be seen riding his scooter door-to-door, but he still has some out there and they suffer poorly from looking a lot like Meleen's. Blue with an outline of Oklahoma, it's a simple sign and does manage to get a long name on the SPOW. I did leave two of Thompson's signs up because they were back far enough that they could have been on private land. Intentional? Maybe, but those are some of the rules that can be exploited here on the Green Mile. Also, since Mike did stop by to talk, I explained the rules of the Green Mile and that I would be removing all signs. I even gave him a date & time, but he didn't manage to save several. Thompson's current score: 9
So to recap, we have:
Shaprio : 29
Meleen: 11
Thompson: 9
Pence: 4
Barry: 3
Anthony/Lamb/Liebmann: 2
Please be aware that they are rumors of a runoff among the Republicans (of which these are, usually) so we will probably be seeing a lot more signage. Tomorrow, however, we will be instituting a new rule here on the Green Mile as we actually call the contenders and talk about illegal sign placement. Will that have an effect on the Green Mile? More importantly, will it have an effect on the rest of OKC? We will see.
More tomorrow.
