Yachats Oregon Writer Rick Schultze

That’s a good question; one that was frequently asked in the 1960’s when people met for the first time. The old joke was that the first three questions asked were; do you have a job, do you have an apartment, and what is your sign? Oh boy you had to hope your signs were compatible or the conversation could quickly end; after all Sidney Omarr and his popular Sun Sign books and horoscope columns were the way to go!

However, Mr. Omarr passed away on January 2^nd 2003 leaving the Sun Sign folks on their own. But not to fear, signage is still a vital entity in today’s culture especially this time of year; it’s political season.

Traversing between Yachats and Waldport one can see a plethora of colorful signs. There are bright blue ones, white ones, red and white ones, red, white and blue ones and those are just signs for candidates or measures on the ballot for the November 4^th elections. Of course what separates these signs from Mr. Omarr’s signs is their random placement. When someone asked what your Sun Sign was you had to tell them but with these political signs it’s often very hard to tell who put it there, or is that the personal opinion of someone who may or may not live where the sign has been placed? Then of course are the signs nailed to trees or posts in the middle of nowhere! Who put them there? Whose sign is it?

Putting the political signs away for a moment I was taken by the amount of other signs vying for my attention. Those would be the entering a Tsunami Zone and leaving a Tsunami Zone signs, the for sale signs by so and so reality, or by the owner, and the for rent signs which pop up for brief periods of time, especially in Yachats.

Then as the weekends approach the highways and byways are dotted with garage sale and estate sale signs. These signs actually do seem to get peoples attention, check out the number of cars parked by the sale sites! Other signs spotted on a regular basis are the no spray signs, the no hunting signs, the no trespassing signs, and of course the ever popular no parking signs.

I know that after the election the political signs will be taken down and hopefully put in some far away place but the other signs will probably be around for a long time as long as there are Tsunami Zones, homes for sale, stuff for sale, trespassers, hunters, and sprayers and renters looking to rent. It’s a fact of life, a sign is a statement meant for you to see and so far my favorite is on an automotive repair shop in Waldport; it says, “Sorry I’m Open”. Now that’s a good sign, what is yours?

To reach Rick Schultze email yarick@pioneer.net