In rural Midwest, photo/headline combo elicits strong response

What would Jesus say?

by Leigh Pomeroy

Several large billboards saying, simply, "Jesus", adorn Highways 22 and 169 heading toward the small college town of St. Peter, Minnesota, including one in North Mankato, some 12 miles south of St. Peter (pictured at left). Needless to say, few passersby miss them, and the billboards no doubt elicit a wide range of private, inside-the-vehicle comments ranging from "Amen" to "I think it's disrespectful" (an actual comment I've heard) to something of a more irreverent variety designed to elicit chuckles or even guffaws.

But now those comments have spilled into the public arena what with the unwitting — so claims Mankato Free Press editor Joe Spear — juxtaposition of the photo printed on the front page of the newspaper next to the headline:

North Mankato cracks down on ‘eyesores’

The ensuing article was of the innocuous local news sort, throwing in junk cars and ornate landscaping along with the now ubiquitous billboards. But that, of course, is not what had some Mankato Free Press readers frothing at the mouth, expressed via irate phone calls, and the keyboard, expressed via a larger-than-average barrage of letters to the editor.

Here's a smattering of some of the nicer responses:

I’ve seen my share of bad reporting, but the front-page headline and picture on Monday was, in my opinion, one of the most offensive in recent memory.

I was deeply offended by the screaming headline and accompanying photo in Monday’s edition of The Free Press.

We were very disappointed and upset that you would not only select that particular shot, but that you put it on the upper half of the front page so it would show in all newspaper racks. How sad that you choose to do that in our community.

Concerning the article about removing eyesores along the highway, Jesus is a sight for sore eyes.

On the other hand, one reader bravely chose to support the paper's controversial photo/headline placement:

I was sure The Free Press would get slammed in the editorials about its Jan. 14 front-page picture of the billboard along Highway 22. That headline made me smile and the letter to the editor in Thursday’s paper made me laugh out loud. I thought it was a perfect choice for a picture — a better representation of visual clutter couldn’t have been selected.

Judging from responses I've received (some anonymous) to less controversial positions I've put forward in the Mankato Free Press and on this blog, no doubt the author of the above piece will be hearing an earful from some of our more vociferous Christians in the community.

For his part, as I indicated above, Free Press Editor Spear said the juxtaposition of the photo and the headline was unintentional. Under the headline "Jesus: Forgive us our trespasses," he wrote, "It’s one of those things that happens when people put together 50,000 words and dozens of photographs a day and must, I say must, have it done by midnight, without exception." (His commentary is currently available online only to subscribers.)

Okay, it was all a mistake. So there.

Meanwhile, life goes on. Hillary, McCain, Obama, Mitt, Huckabee, Edwards, Rudy... who cares? Global warming, end of oil, financial market meltdowns... who cares? Subprime mortgage debacle, rising unemployment, soaring personal debt... who cares? Iraq war, trillion dollar deficits, Medicare and Social Security insolvency... who cares?

Let's get it straight: Defending the honor of a billboard that says "Jesus" in eight-foot-high letters is more important than, well, gosh, just about anything else.