Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 10, 1993 TAG: 9305100041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LEESBURG LENGTH: Medium
Lyon, 72, vowed to clear them away.
Now, after two years of pre-dawn raids along the Loudoun County road, Lyon and a friend have seized more than 25,000 illegally posted signs and helped to convict three people Lyon photographed putting them on public land.
He has been screamed at and threatened by sign-posters. But his campaign has won the admiration of state and county officials, who say they have neither the time nor the budget to do the job themselves.
"You can't help but stand back in awe," says county Sheriff's Deputy Bobbie Ochsman, who has helped Lyon on one of his cases. "Just think, if all those 25,000 signs were on the road, how tawdry it would be."
Anyone doubting Lyon's effectiveness need only look across the county line, toward western Fairfax. On the Fairfax side, right up to the Loudoun County line, signs still flourish.
"It was just a last-straw thing," said Lyon, a retired engineer. "You either roll over dead or you do something. I've been doing something about it."
His campaign began after he noticed that cardboard signs had begun to make their way west of Leesburg, near where he lives with his wife on a family farm.
"They are not a thing of beauty," Lyon said.
Lyon made his first few trips alone, patrolling Virginia 7 in his green 1977 pickup. He often gets on the road as early as 2 a.m. and drives 80 miles round-trip, stopping dozens of times.
A county prosecutor has assured him that the signs are "essentially litter" that violate a county zoning ordinance. "I'm not aware that he's violating any law," said James Forsyth, deputy commonwealth's attorney.
Lyon soon realized that many sign-posters would put up new ones right after he had taken theirs down, so he began snapping pictures of them with a telephoto lens and pursuing court action.
He also teamed up with Joe Maio, 52, a neighbor in western Loudoun County and a sympathizer willing to put in the hours during the weekend, which is when many of the posters are erected.
"It's cheaper than golf and it's not as dangerous as jumping out of an airplane. So it's my hobby," said Maio, a federal worker.
Lyon said his main goal now is to take people to court. So far he has sworn out arrest warrants against four people, three of whom were convicted of misdemeanor violations of the county zoning ordinance.
by CNB