A billboard went up on Friday afternoon taking aim at Jefferson Alderman Hollis Shadden with little explanation.

The digital sign was taken down in less than 24-hours. It was located near the intersection of FM 2208 and US59, outside the city limits.

Online discussions have abounded over the sign with comments being made by other Aldermen and members of the public.

Shadden has not publicly commented that the Jimplecute is aware of, nor has the Jimplecute reached out to either party for comment at this time.

Some posts and comments have spread to attacking the family of the billboard’s owner, and insinuating that public funds were used to pay for the sign.

One accusation has been made and repeated that the Jimplecute will not allow letters to the editor on the topic to be published. This is not true. The Jimplecute has not made any statement nor story on the sign prior to this post.

Another accusation was made in a comment online that if the local paper did not denounce the sign then the paper was complicit in the action.

The Jimplecute welcomes letters to the editor on any topic. Publishers Hugh Lewis and Austin Lewter have owned the Jimplecute since August 2020. During that time, we have never refused any letter to the editor.

The Jimplecute will publish signed letters if any are received. If more letters are received than we have space to run, a sampling will be published in the print edition and all of the others will be published online. But letters that contain individual attacks or which are in poor taste will not be published in either manner.

Letters can be mailed to Jefferson Jimplecute, 115 N Polk st, Jefferson Tx 75657, or emailed to jeffersonjimplecute@gmail.com.

The Jimplecute is a weekly publication which is distributed on Thursday afternoon and delivered to subscribers on Friday via USPS. It is printed early Thursday mornings. As such, a story in this weeks paper on the sign was not physically possible.

The Jimplecute is working on a story about the issue for a future issue. But, both sides of the issue will be printed and the parties actually involved will be reached out to for comment.

If only one party chooses to comment then that will be the only side provided. It will be noted that the other party chose not to respond. If neither party chooses to comment that will also be reported.

We have also decided not to share an image of the sign at this time as we don’t wish to propel a possibly libelous narrative.

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