Get a load of this:

andquot;Temporary signs may be erected on private property within view of state highways … subject to the approval of the controlling authority … Such signs are not permitted on state highway rights of way, on trees, utility poles, on right of way fences, right of way fence posts, natural features, in protected areas of the interstate system, in designated scenic areas or park lands.andquot;

That admonishment, which governs outdoor advertising visible from a state highway, is filed under 734-060-0175 in the Oregon Administrative Rules.

So is this: andquot;Any temporary sign located on state highway right of way may be removed without notice.andquot;

The procedure for removing those signs is even in Oregon Revised Statutes 377.775:

andquot;If a noncomplying sign bears the name and address of its owner or if the owner of the sign is readily identified and located … the owner has 30 days from the date of the notice within which to make the sign comply, to remove the sign or to request a hearing before the director within the time specified in the notice.andquot;

We don’t know whether the Director of Transportation or his/her duly authorized representative has notified the offending candidate(s) in our local political races. If not, consider this a citizen’s notification. Get your signs off our public property, and brush up on the law.

And maybe your math: The law of the land also expects you to be proficient at geometry.

Yes, kids, you will use it in real life.

andquot;Overall size (of temporary signs) shall not exceed 12 square feet. However, a person wishing to erect a temporary sign that exceeds 12 square feet may apply to the Department’s Outdoor Advertising Control Office for a variance from the 12 square foot restriction … A variance will not allow a sign that exceeds 32 square feet.andquot;

That rule applies andquot;whether it’s on a building, whether it’s freestanding, if it’s visible from a state highway,andquot; explained Jimmy Odom, a program technician in the Outdoor Advertising office.

Like Highway 30.

Or Highway 7.

Or Main Street which, in Baker City, happens to be both.

Go figure.