Matthew Miller • Lansing State Journal • March 25, 2008 • From Lansing State Journal

The billboard at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Francis Street held a simple equation and question: "One day of the Iraq War = $720 million. How would you spend it?" When Michael Allen saw it and considered the cost, his reaction was blunt. "That's really dumb," Allen, 21, of Lansing said. "Why would you spend that much for somebody to go get killed? Bring them boys home." That is the reaction that the people who paid for that billboard, and four others like it scattered around the city, wanted.

Greg DeRuiteR/Lansing State Journal

"I don't think people really take in how much this war costs," said Ann Francis, a member of the Greater Lansing Network Against War and Injustice. "That's a hard thing to grasp, $720 million a day."

"Getting this message across is really important," she said, "so, whoever is running for president, people can know this and keep telling them that we need to be spending the money at home."

And, with many people in the area suffering from the state's weak economy, it's a message that the group believes will resonate, said Ken Harrow, another GLNAWI member and an English professor at Michigan State University.

"In economic hard times, it's a message that we think may get people to take a more active position against the war or at least think, what is all that money going for?"

Ben Morlock, the head of the MSU College Republicans, isn't likely to respond that way.

He hasn't seen the billboards, which went up Monday, but said he's familiar with the group's message. And he thinks the money spent on the war is for the good.

"Whether or not these organizations want to admit it, we are at war," he said.

"There is a serious threat from radical Islamic terrorists, and, if we don't do what is necessary to fight this war, there will be no country to worry about."

It was contributions from GLNAWI members and others that paid for the billboards, which will remain up through April 20.

But it was a national deal negotiated with Adams Outdoor Advertising by a group called PeaceRoots that made them affordable, Francis said, though she didn't want to give an exact cost.

And she said there may soon be similar signs in other towns.

"This could be the first city where these signs are going up," she said, "but I know that they are trying to make this happen nationally."

As for the logic of using billboards, Harrow said, "After five years of protesting, you have to think of ways to get the message to the community in ways that don't involve simply marching."