Ohio- That large banner atop a Springfield Township building adjacent to Interstate 75 promoting the Hustler store in Monroe is coming down.
But it won’t be disappearing altogether. Attorneys for Hustler publisher Larry Flynt agreed yesterday to remove the sign by next Friday.
The agreement doesn’t admit Hustler was violating Ohio law because the case never got to that point, even though it has been in court for more than a year.
Because the Ohio Department of Transportation has a rule that banners can’t be displayed within 500 feet of an interstate interchange — and this one is — the sign will be removed and Hustler will pay the Department of Transportation a $5,000 fine.
That, though, isn’t the end of the story.
“We realize that is the position — and it’s not worth it to fight it,” Hustler attorney Lou Sirkin said.
“We’re going to move the sign. I’m not going to tell you where, but there’s going to be a different location for the sign.”
He suggested viewers could see the sign by looking up “in the sky.”
The sides fought over the sign as a zoning issue versus the right of free speech, but Friday’s agreement killed that debate — for now.
Sirkin said that Jimmy Flynt, brother of Larry Flynt, was upset that someone had been throwing mud balls at the sign.
