Is it freedom of speech or is it a violation of state law?
That's the question lawmakers are now facing over three billboards in Hart and Larue counties, all with religious messages.
As you can imagine this has generated a lot of controversy and neither side is going to give up without a fight. It’s one that has now made its way into the statehouse.
On Interstate 65 in Hart and LaRue Counties it's mostly a scenic farmland setting.
But at mile markers 73 and 76, the view changes, to include billboards displaying religious messages-- if you died today where would you spend eternity, hell is real and the ten commandments. They’re all strategically located near this sign, advertising adult books and videos.
Norman Cottrell, property owner where sign is displayed, said, "What the sign says on it is important to me for my beliefs, for the way I believe."
This sign has been on Norman Cottrell's property for the past five years.
He doesn't have a permit for it, which is required by state law, so a LaRue County Circuit Judge told him to take it down.
Cottrell said, "I think that since it's on private property, that it being no financial gain to anybody that we should have that right to have it there."
Some state legislators agree.
By a vote of 15 to 1, legislators in the House Committee on Tourism passed a bill that would exempt non-commercial billboards from the permit requirement.
Norman Bergmann, executive director of Scenic Kentucky is working to oppose this legislation.
He says he's not concerned about what the billboards say, but about how they look on Kentucky's highways.
Bergmann said, "The scenic beauty of Kentucky is this natural setting and billboard after billboard, with trees cut down so you can see the bill board is not what we want to see."
But Cottrell says it is what he wants to see and it is a message he wants to convey and says, no matter what, his sign is here to stay.
Cottrell said, "As long as we have to fight it, we'll fight."
Even though this bill passed in committee, this is just the first step. It still has a long way to go.
Next, the bill will go to the House floor.
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