Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 25, 1992                   TAG: 9203250091
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Ed Shamy
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

@#$%&: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

So let's get to the point:\ IT'S BEEN FAR TOO LONG SINCE WE'VE HAD A DECENT CONTEST AROUND HERE!

Let this be a call for entries for the "What-the-@#$%&#-does-that-mean?" Contest.

Scattered along the roadsides of our great commonwealth is the sign you see above. You have driven past so many of them, stared at them so mindlessly, that you have never paused to really at them.

You're not driving now. You've shed your mindless commuting skin. Check this thing out.

What the @#%&# is it? What does it mean?

Obviously, something is not permitted, but darned if I can figure it out. Prehistoric messages like this are scrawled onto cave walls in France. On Incan tombs. On bridge abutments in bad neighborhoods.

You can help the groping masses understand. Or you can turn the page.

Stare at this cave drawing for a couple of minutes. What's it saying to you? What's it prohibiting?

Pretend this sign needs a statement, to be printed alongside of the artwork.

What will your statement say? Write down your most creative, most outrageous thought.

Send it to the "What-the-@#$%&#-does-that-mean?" Contest, c/o Ed Shamy, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010.

The deadline is whenever I get tired of opening envelopes.

I will then, as always, appoint a blue-ribbon panel to evaluate your entries. Winners, judged on criteria not yet established, will get a prize, which I have not yet chosen.

What the @#$%&# is it?