I saw this on the local news. A billboard on I95 features the commandment “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery” with the “Not” crossed out, next to a picture of former porn star and Charlie Sheen’s girlfriend Bree Olson, with a finger to her lips.
According to MyFoxPhilly, the billboard advertises ArrangementFinders.com, a Toronto-based Internet dating site that sets up what it calls “Mutually Beneficial Arrangements” between middle aged men looking for a hot date, and 20-something women looking for a man with a few bucks in his pocket.
I almost never take I95 anymore precisely because of this. On I95 there’s all sorts of billboards for strip clubs and X-rated video stores. You can’t even take the main roadway with children anymore. So this doesn’t really come as a surprise to me.
The only good news is that 3rd graders at St. George Catholic School in the neighborhood near the sign are protesting.
“I say, take it down, because that is very offensive,” third grader Donald “Dusty” Grauber told Fox 29s Bruce Gordon at the St. George Catholic School, not far from the billboard…
Third grade teacher Rita Ann Ezzai asked her kids, “How can you raise the standards in your own community?” as she led them in a letter writing campaign to push for removal of the billboard.
The kids at the school are learning about the 10 Commandments this week, and, with “Number Six” under assault, the 8- and 9-year olds are asking their state representative, John Taylor, to pressure the company.
“I don’t really think it’s okay at all,” said Molly Curran of the billboard, “because it’s kind of like telling kids and adults and everyone that it’s okay to commit adultery.”
Classmate Olivia Higgins-Cassel agrees, “because little kids are just learning about the Ten Commandments and it’s telling them when you grow up it’s okay to cheat on your husband or wife.”
Miss Ezzai knows it’s an uphill battle, free speech and all, but believes you’re never too young to fight for your neighborhood.
“These children have a right to live in a community that is safe, that is morally up to our standards,” Ezzai told Gordon, “and we don’t want it here. And we want them to know that it’s not welcome in our community and we would like it taken down.”
