Kansans for Life, the state’s largest pro-life organization, completed the project to restore the “Abortion Stops a Beating Heart” billboard between Great Bend and Ellinwood last week, and will rededicate the sign on Monday.
Kent Roth, the project manager, said billboard with the pro-life message originally stood near Dr. George Tiller’s abortion clinic in Wichita. When Kellogg Street was widened, the late Leroy Schartz saved the sign by bringing it to Barton County. It was erected on his farmland in the late 1990s.
“The passage of time caused the wording and picture of an unborn baby sucking his or her thumb to fade,” Roth said. The billboard has been restored once before, and the first restoration celebration took place the last day of Lent in 2003. Last week, Jeremy Guthrie at Mark’s Custom Signs completed and installed new panels with digital graphics.
The 2012 restoration celebration is planned for 10 a.m. Monday, July 18, at the location of the billboard. Those who attend can park on the Dartmouth Road on the north side of U.S. 56. Father Don Bedore of Prince of Peace Parish will conduct a blessing of the sign.
“This sign has saved lives in the past and contributions from community leaders to restore the sign have made it possible to save lives in the future,” Roth said.