DRIVE-BY CRUSADER FREEWAY OVERPASSES PROVIDE CANVAS FOR PROTEST MESSAGES.

Byline: SUSAN ABRAM Staff Writer

ENCINO -- The mattress sat near the freeway off-ramp for days -- unwanted and untouched.

But to Patrick Randall, it was a sign.

``I just pulled up and painted `1776 to 2000: R.I.P.' on it'' said Randall, 44, who lives in Northern California.

It was that day in 2000 -- after the bruising presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore -- that Randall was transformed from a concerned citizen appalled by society's indifference to highway litter to Freewayblogger, a one-man movement whose hand-lettered cardboard signs began dotting the overpasses of America's freeways.

``After Sept. 11, all the American flags that were going up changed the way overpasses were used as a forum,'' Randall said. ``The success of the sign is that it's much more likely to work, to reach tens of thousands of people.''

If his messages haven't affected change, his actions have.

About 2,000 people nationwide sign on regularly to Randall's Internet Web site -- freewayblogger.com -- to brag about posting a sign, even sending photographs of the act as proof.

``It's kind of an outlet, because there doesn't seem to be a voice for us,'' said a 46-year-old Burbank resident who's posted about a dozen signs in the San Fernando Valley after reading about Freewayblogger. ``It seems the mainstream media is not interested in holding this administration into account. We do it partly to say `hey, people, wake up, think a little, and look around.'''

What makes freeway blogging attractive is that there is a captive audience.

``People go on the Internet by choice, but this is the low-tech, poor-man's version of taking out an ad,'' said the Burbank blogger, who did not wish to give his name. ``You're sitting in a car.''

It's the kind of response Randall hopes to get more of from Americans, especially as the country moves into another year of fighting in the Middle East, he said. While his anti-war stance is one thing, the real message he tries to drive home is that one person can make a difference.

``The thing I'm fighting for the most is fear,'' Randall said. ``People are not afraid of the law, of getting caught. They are afraid of looking foolish.''

On Friday, Randall slipped on a bright orange ``Adopt A Highway'' vest made by Caltrans and picked through hundreds of pre-made signs of protest piled in the bed of his Toyota truck.

After choosing ``The War is a Lie'' sign, he armed himself with duct tape and bungee cords, then ducked up a corkscrew ramp. After pressing the sign into the wire mesh that faces southbound commuters, he made a quick getaway.

``I don't like to hang around too long,'' he said, his ponytail flying behind him as he ran back down the ramp and disappeared into some brush, before driving off to his next spot.

His campaign -- using a series of posters to create a message -- is reminiscent of the Burma Shave signs that advertised shaving cream along the nation's highways from 1927 to 1963. Randall said he's been known to hang signs on as many as 50 overpasses from San Diego to San Francisco.

On a pedestrian overpass at White Oak Avenue and Balboa Boulevard, Randall taped up ``Osama who?'' catching the eye of California Highway Patrol Officer James Murad, who predicted more signs like Randall's likely will be seen as election season heats up.

``We have to take those down,'' Murad said. ``They're distracting to drivers. It's unfortunate, but even the American flags have to be taken down.''

After Sept. 11, 2001, spontaneous displays of American flags appeared along highways in support of the country. But in Santa Cruz, a banner was displayed questioning the prospect of the War on Terror, which read: ``At What Cost?''

Police took the sign down, and a federal court ultimately ruled in 2003 that the state Department of Transportation must allow displays from all viewpoints or none at all.

Caltrans chose the latter.

``What if it were to fall on a car windshield?'' said Judi Gish, spokeswoman for Caltrans. ``That's why it's our policy to remove it. It can be dangerous.''

Randall disagrees -- but then many disagree with his points of view, too.

His messages are not very popular in conservative regions, such as in Newport Beach, where he grew up.

``There's a man in Orange County who takes my signs down, tears them in pieces, then hangs one of the pieces back up,'' Randall said. ``I think I have the most in common with him because he is saying something.''

A former freelance journalist and teacher, Randall said he survives on cashed-in stock options as well as help from his family.

He finds irony in what he does. It was America's first war that produced the right to free speech.

``Not only do we have free speech, but that's all they gave us,'' he said. ``We're so capable of affecting incredible change just by acting solo. Too many people died for my right to do this.''

susan.abram(at)dailynews.com

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(1 -- 2) One of Patrick Randall's anti-war signs hangs over motorists, above, from a pedestrian overpass fence along the Ventura Freeway in Encino. Randall, seen at top taping one of his anti-war signs to a fence on an overpass, is a ``freeway blogger'' from San Francisco who attaches his messages to freeway overpasses throughout California.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer