REMINDING MOTORISTS traveling in southwestern Minnesota of the real reason for Christmas is this billboard along U.S. Highway 14 just east of Springfield.
Thank you, St. Raphael’s Knights of Columbus Council #2769 of Springfield for sponsoring this message.
Well done.
Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
“Did u hear about the anti-cheese billboard up by green bay?” my Wisconsin-resident daughter texted.
Since I discovered her message seven hours after she sent it, I was on my own to investigate. You don’t dangle a tidbit of information like that in front of my eyes and expect me to let it go.
So here’s the deal, according to information I gleaned in a quick online search.
The Washington D.C.-based nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has sponsored a billboard along Highway 41 near Lambeau Field with this message:
Warning:
Cheese Can
Sack Your Health
Fat. Cholesterol. Sodium.
I don’t need to explain. If you want details on the Physicians Committee’s stand, click here.
Originally, the billboard featured an image of the Grim Reaper wearing a cheesehead hat. Now he’s hatless, reportedly due to a threatened lawsuit by the company that makes those signature hats.
So, that all said, I wonder if the D.C. folks understand, really understand, the importance of cheese in Wisconsin.
I’ll take you on a little photographic tour through Wisconsin, showing you images taken within the past 10 months.
I expect this isn’t the last we’ll hear of this billboard controversy.
And, just for the record, I love cheese.
Cheese is a big part of the tourism industry in Wisconsin as evidenced by this photo taken at Simons Specialty Cheese in Little Chute. Yes, those would be the famous cheesehead hats.
Simons Specialty Cheese is one of the retail outlets for Trega Foods, Ltd., which produces natural curds and mozzarella sticks right next door at its Little Chute plant.
Kitschy cheddar cheese shapes sold in Wisconsin.
You can't miss these cows and cheese sign along a Wisconsin roadway.
A small sampling of the cheeses available at Simon's Specialty Cheese.
Humbird Cheese, a popular tourist stop at Tomah.
Promoting cheese on a billboard along a central Wisconsin highway.
SO, WHAT’S YOUR take on the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine billboard and/or its stand on cheese?
AS I CLIPPED freshly-washed laundry onto the clothesline with 35-degree temperatures nipping my fingers under a heavy sky this morning, I contemplated what I would write here about Osama bin Laden. I could not not write something.
But what could I, an average American in a mid-sized Minnesota community, write about the death of this al-Qaida leader, this terrorist, this murderer, this most-wanted fugitive, one of the most-hated men in the world?
What profound words could I pull together that would express my gratitude to the U.S. intelligence community and military?
What could I say to those who lost loved ones in the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998, in the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks?
I could write nothing that hasn’t been spoken, written or thought.
And then I remembered a photo I took about a week ago of a billboard while traveling along Interstate 90 east of La Crosse, Wisconsin. I have no idea who posted the patriotic message.
But today, for me, this image summarizes how I feel as an American, as my country, the United States of America, stands, united and free.
© Copyright 2011 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
WHAT’S THE STORY behind this billboard along Minnesota Highway 60 just northeast of Lake Crystal? Do you know? I photographed the sign about 10 days ago.
I doubt I’ve ever seen a more strongly-worded billboard.
Who is this “Angry American Voter”?
Is it you? Is it some of us? Most of us?
No matter the identity of the vocal voter, the opinionated message is clearly aimed at government.
And whether you agree or disagree, you have to agree that we are fortunate to live in a country where we can freely vote and freely express our opinions right there, along the busy highway, for all to read.
© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
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