HONOLULU- A video posted November 3 on the web site YouTube shows how a fake exit sign with the logo of the Kailua clothing company UDown was erected in August of last year on the H3 Freeway. (Click here to watch)
The three minute video begins with text that says, “A few years now the freeway sign on the H3 Kailua exit has been abandoned and left unattended.”
The video then cuts to a time lapse of someone building the fake freeway sign in what appears to be a living room. About a minute later another time lapse shows two men climbing atop a 30 to 40 foot high sign metal sign post on the Kailua exit of the freeway. A third person is seen helping lift the three pieces of the sign into place with a rope.
State Transportation Department spokesman Dan Meisenzahl called the prank a “stupid stunt.”
“A number of things could have happened,” he said. “One of those guys could’ve fell (or) the sign could’ve fell later on and landed on a car. Not only are you endangering yourself, you’re endangering other people who are using the highway.”
Painted on the fake sign you can see the word ‘Kailua’ with the UDown logo on one side and a musubi on the other. Also on the sign is written ‘Exit 14’ with two white arrows directing drivers where to go.
The DOT removed the fake sign less than 24 hours after it was put up. It cost $380 in overtime to have the sign removed.
When asked about the video of the fake sign, UDown co-owner Justin McCoy denied any involvement. State records show McCoy was granted a trade mark for the UDown logo in December of 2001. According to its web site, the company has been in existence since 1999.
In an email to Khon2 McCoy said the freeway sign was “clever.”
UDown signs and stickers have been appearing in unlikely places ever since the company came into existence. A 2006 state investigation into the vandalism of government signs with UDown stickers did not result in any arrests.
The DOT filed a police report immediately after the fake H3 sign went up last year, but nothing ever came of that investigation either.
The UDown web site as well as the store on Kuulei Road in Kailua features clothing and posters of the company’s logo plastered in unusual places. One t-shirt features three screen shots of the fake H3 exit sign being erected. A poster meanwhile shows a black UDown logo on the famous Hollywood sign in Southern California.
A disclaimer on the UDown web site reads in bright green capital letters, “UDOWN DOES NOT AID, ABET, SOLICIT, OR COUNSEL ANYONE TO VANDALIZE PUBLIC AND/OR PRIVATE PROPERTY.”
The statement continues by saying, “Please show some respect and courtesy by not placing our stickers on people’s personal property, businesses, churches, cemetaries [sic], or schools!”
The DOT does not have time table for when an official freeway sign on the H3 Kailua exit will be erected. Meisenzahl says the metal post was damaged by a motor vehicle accident and may have to be replaced.
“Unfortunately this issue may be has been pushed on the priority list, but it’s still on our list of things to do,” he said.
On average the DOT spends about $50,000 to replace or fix roadway and highway signs that are vandalized.
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See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
