City objects to what's behind anti-war signs

When the posters went up almost two years ago, mainly on Seattle's Capitol Hill, they seemed to tap into the anger many in the liberal neighborhood felt over the war in Iraq.


		GRANT M. HALLER / P-I
	Thomas Hays and Soledad Picon stand next to posters that protest the war in Iraq that someone has attached to a metal pole on Broadway. Hays designed the posters and made them available on his Web site, along with a recipe for glue made with flour and water. Picon helped him translate the posters into Spanish.

Pictured in the posters was the graphic image of dead Iraqis and American troops. Others showed coffins draped in American flags, a sea of tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery and the number of American troops killed. They all carried the same message:

"Replacements Needed."

It turns out the posters -- which seem to be on every telephone pole, streetlight, fire hydrant and bicycle rack in the neighborhood -- are illegal. And the city has cited the 37-year-old Seattle Community College student who made the posters available on his Web site because he has refused to take them all down. A Seattle Municipal Court judge could fine him up to $50 a poster, and there are dozens of posters on the streets.

The issue isn't over the anti-war message, said Patrice Gillespie-Smith, chief of staff for the city's transportation department. The posters are supposed to be stapled or taped up. But most of the "Replacements Needed" posters have been glued on.

On Tuesday, the student, Thomas Hays, walked down Broadway, where many of the posters can be seen. He said he wasn't responsible for the proliferation of posters hung by people who get them from his Web site. That has less to do with him, he said, than people's feelings about the war.

"The idea (for the posters) came about when I was watching the news with some older people, Vietnam War-era people," Hays said. "And we were saying the images on television (today) were about children running up to tanks. It wasn't about ... war. In Vietnam, you'd see people getting blown up on the news. We started brainstorming ways to get the real images out to the kids" being recruited for the military, "and we came up with posters."

Hays put a disclaimer on his Web site urging people to follow local laws when hanging the posters.

"I can't be held responsible for what everybody decides to do."

He also put a recipe on his Web site (www.replacements needed.com) for glue made with flour and water. "Tape and staples use petroleum," he said. "I thought it was hypocritical to use tape and staples when we're fighting a war over oil."

Seattle officials have taken a largely hands-off approach to the posters since a state appeals court struck down the city's controversial poster ban in 1994. The city is still allowed to set certain rules, such as requiring posters to be taken down after 30 days and to be hung with staples or tape.

The city doesn't have enough workers to enforce the rules on posters, Gillespie-Smith said. But she said the city has to enforce the rules when there is a formal complaint, as in this case. She also said that Hays ignored a warning to remove the posters before he was cited.

Capitol Hill resident Bob Knudson filed the complaint. He said he wasn't singling out the "Replacements Needed" posters because of their message; he just thinks the unsightly look of layer upon layer of tattered, torn posters constitutes blight that has gotten out of hand.

"I have mixed feelings about the war, like a lot of Americans," Knudson said, adding that he has complained to the city about a variety of posters. "I think people should care about the city and ... do everything we can do to prevent urban decay."

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