Cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad were up for a day this week on billboards in Marion County.
Chuck Bright, co-owner of Bright Signs in Harrison, said the cartoons were posted illegally Tuesday on billboards his company owns.
"I don't appreciate somebody putting something on my boards I don't know about," he said. "It's kind of like stealing with no rent."
Also, it's a controversial subject, Bright said.
"I don't have a problem with free speech," he said, "but things like that seem to be a problem."
Depicting the Prophet Muhammad is considered blasphemy to many Muslims.
The billboards are part of a "free-speech campaign" by the American Freedom Defense Initiative. According to a Monday news release, 100 of the billboards went up in St. Louis that day.
The billboards depict a bearded man wearing a turban and wielding a sword. He's saying "You can't draw me!" Then these words come apparently from a hand drawing the image: "That's why I draw you." In large red letters to the left of the cartoon it reads "Support Free Speech."
According to the news release, the billboards feature the winning cartoon by Bosch Fawstin from the American Freedom Defense Initiative's Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest on May 3 in Garland, Texas. Two men who opened fire outside the event were shot and killed by police.
In January, militant gunmen attacked the satirical Paris newspaper Charlie Hebdo for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. A total of 17 people died in three days of attacks, including 12 people at Charlie Hebdo.
"Drawing Muhammad is not illegal under American law, but only under Islamic law," Pamela Geller, executive director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, said via the news release. "Violence that arises over the cartoons is solely the responsibility of the Islamic jihadists who perpetrate it."
Geller didn't return an email Thursday seeking comment about the Marion County billboards.
The Southern Poverty Law Center lists the American Freedom Defense Initiative as an active anti-Muslim group.
Bright said he was informed that the signs were on three billboards he has on Arkansas 202 in Summit and another one was on U.S. 62 west of Yellville.
The billboards have a signage area of 6-by-12 feet, about half the size of large billboards. The smaller billboards rent for $60 per month, Bright said.
Bright said he received a telephone call from a man Thursday morning who wouldn't reveal his name or telephone number. The man told Bright he got permission from someone at a store in Summit to put up the signs.
Bright told the caller that he bought permanent easements on the signs years ago. The telephone number for Bright Signs was clearly printed on the billboard faces. Bright said the billboards haven't been rented for about three years.
The caller said he would come by within the next few days to discuss a lease. In the meantime, the caller said he had covered the Muhammad billboards so they are no longer visible.
Bright said he's not sure whether he wants to lease the billboards for the Muhammad cartoon.
"I haven't decided," he said Thursday. "I'm kind of wondering if he's going to show up at all. If I was him, I wouldn't because I don't know how much damage he has done to my business."
Bright said people occasionally post signs on his billboards without paying or notifying him, but it's usually for less controversial things. The last time it was "kittens for sale" about three years ago.
Marion County Sheriff Roger Vickers said he had not heard a complaint about the billboards, so the sheriff's office has not investigated or written a report on the matter.
Keith Edmonds, the emergency management coordinator for Marion County, said his agency received calls about the billboards, but he had other things to worry about.
"I've been extremely busy. We had a house explode," he said, referring to a propane leak. "I had to deal with that as well."
Bright said he hasn't seen any of the Muhammad billboards, but he read about them in an online article in The Baxter Bulletin, a daily newspaper based in Mountain Home.
The Bulletin published a front-page article about the billboards Wednesday along with a photograph. The newspaper was praised on social media by Geller and Fawstin for depicting the billboard.
"A small town print newspaper -- The Baxter Bulletin -- shames the 'Big' papers by printing the billboard of my Mohammad cartoon on their front page," Fawstin wrote Thursday on his blog, fawstin.blogspot.com. The Bulletin is owned by Gannett Co.
Metro on 06/12/2015