Who put up the communism billboard?

A billboard near I-70 Exit 298 says "Manhattan: The next best thing to communism."


Q: Who put up the billboard on I-70 that says “Manhattan: The next best thing to communism”?

A: Timely question. It appears to have just gone up in the past couple of days.

The answer to your question is Ron Ford, who lives in Manhattan. He owns the land in Geary County where the billboard stands, public records show. The billboard company, Waitt Outdoor, sells space on a portion of the board, and Ford gets to use the other portion as he sees fit. A representative of Waitt said they would not accept that kind of advertising and advised the owner against it, but he did it anyway.

Why did Ford do this? We don’t know. In fact, he attempted to divert us. Contacted by The Mercury Friday, Ford said “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” complained about his treatment by The Mercury in the past, and hung up. It’s not clear what treatment he was referring to; Mercury archives show no mention of him in recent years.

Once we pinned down the public records that show he owns the land, we called him back twice from different numbers. He didn’t answer or respond to messages prior to presstime.

The billboard features a kicker that says: “Paid for by the Ford’s.”

Read more: http://themercury.com/news/local/who-put-up-the-communism-billboard/article_fa074798-f572-5ad3-bfb2-7c61bdc1a05f.html