Clinton Welcome Signs To Go Bye Bye

Visitors to Arkansas next year will no longer be greeted by signs welcoming them to the "Home of President Bill Clinton."

Dozens of signs along the state border will be removed or painted over with a new message after Mr. Clinton leaves office in January, the Arkansas Highway Commission said Tuesday.

Longtime Clinton foe Jim Parsons, who has lobbied to remove the signs, said his nagging finally paid off.

"The people maybe do have an influence. If we speak out, perhaps we can turn Arkansas around," he said.

Highway official Dan Flowers said the decision was a purely practical one.

"The president's term is up, and we believe it is an appropriate time to make that change," he said. Other states have removed presidential welcome signs after a transfer of power.

President Clinton this summer moved a step closer to his post-White House life, changing his voter registration from Arkansas to New York, where he and the first lady have bought a house.

Hillary Rodham Clinton last week became New York's senator-elect and is expected to live in Washington, D.C., and in the Clintons' new home in Chappaqua.

Arkansas has 80 state border signs welcoming visitors to Clinton country, with another 18 marking the four towns where he once lived.

Some of the signs may go to museums, including Mr. Clinton's presidential library, planned for Little Rock.

The signs cost nearly $50,000 to make and put up in 1993, the state highway department said. It will cost about $10,000 to take them down.

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