The same “Earth’s Final Warning” ads that the Catholic League has fought around the country appeared recently in the Athens Messenger in Athens, Ohio and The Sun in San Bernardino, California. Fortunately, the publishers of both newspapers pledged never to run them again.
The Athens Messenger ran the offensive ad on October 4. It was sponsored by a splinter group of the Seventh Day Adventist operating out of West Palm Beach, Florida. We did not learn of the ad until a few weeks later. On October 20, William Donohue wrote to the newspaper’s publisher, Fred W. Weber II, asking him not to run the ad again. On October 30, Weber wrote back saying, “We regret accepting and running the advertisement” and indicated that a statement of regret had already been issued to readers.
The Catholic League’s response to the ad in The Sun was timelier and thus had a greater effect. Donohue complained to publisher Bob Gray on October 20 about the October 15 ad and received a no-nonsense letter from Gray on October 30. The Sweetwater Seventh Day Adventist sponsored this one.
Gray said that “The persons who accepted this advertisement had already served notice of resignation. Their decision to accept was extremely poor.” He assured Donohue that “we will be careful not to accept such advertising in the future.”
Just as the bigots won’t give up, neither will we.
