A large neon sign that reads "Jesus is Lord" is catching heat from the managers of this historic borough.
Bedford Borough officials are threatening businessman Bob Foor with 30 days in jail if he refuses to remove the 3½-feet-tall and nearly 100-feet-wide flashing red sign from a massive old building he owns in the heart of the borough's historic district.
Foor, who spent $10,000 on the sign, says it's his constitutional right.
"I feel they're violating my freedom of speech and my freedom to express my religion," Foor told The Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown for Friday's editions.
The row began a year ago when Foor sought permission from the borough's historical review board to put up the sign. The board denied the request because of the size of the sign and the use of neon, all of which failed to comply with the district's historic appearance.
Earlier this year, Foor found out no permit was necessary to put a sign on windows, so he had the sign installed on the building windows.
"There's nothing wrong with putting beer signs on the windows, so what's wrong with this?" Foor said.
Officials, who gave Foor 10 days' notice to remove the sign, say it doesn't keep with the area's appearance 200 years ago and violates the historic district's regulations, the sign ordinance and the zoning law. Borough Manager John Montgomery added signs must be inside the window.
Montgomery said council will decide the next step should Foor ignore the borough's request to remove the sign from the building.
In letters Foor received from borough Solicitor Dean Crabtree, failure to comply could bring fines of $1,000 per day and up to 30 days in jail.
The word "Jesus" showed up on the building last week. This week, the remaining two words were put up despite warnings from borough officials that workers were trespassing on borough property.
"I was told you can see it from an airplane flying over the borough," Foor said.
Legal experts say the law may be on the borough's side.
"Freedom of speech has time, place and manner restrictions," said Larry Frankel, executive director of the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. "Unless he can demonstrate that he is being denied permission for the sign based on the content of the sign, it is not discriminatory."