Update on Kelowna’s Atheist Bus Ads

A month ago, a couple atheist bus ads went up in Kelowna, British Columbia:

And last week, they were stolen from the bus yard.

So what’s going on now?

After an investigation, the city says it has no idea what happened:

Regional Programs Manager, Jerry Dombrowski says they have concluded their investigation into the removal of the two bus ads and the results have come back inconclusive.

…

“At this point we have no idea if they were removed on-site of off-site. There was a bit of misinformation from somebody somewhere earlier. Transit decals are not as difficult to remove as you would think, they really don’t require any specialized equipment.”

Replacing the ads would cost the Center for Inquiry up to $200 — according to the contract they signed, they accept “liability for vandalism to ads.” Lamar advertising offered some consolation, though:

The advertising company has offered to extend the display time as a gesture of goodwill.

I’m sure they can find the donations to put the ads back up. And if the ads get stolen again, we’ll have more evidence that this was a crime against atheists, not just a random act of vandalism.

(Thanks to Loren for the link!)

Richard Wade

Regional Programs Manager, Jerry Dombrowski says they have concluded their investigation into the removal of the two bus ads and the results have come back inconclusive.

Regional Programs did the “investigation”? Not T. Nacious Canine, world famous detective in the Crimes Against Atheists Division of the Kelowna Police Department?
Tim D.

I wish I had a fuckton of money so I could donate $200 to these guys just for the lulz.

If this had happened sooner, I could’ve sold our latest EP on Amazon on the cheap and donated the first $200 to Center for Inquiry.
ChristopherTK

The theft provides Kelowna and the ads in general, more publicity.
Loren Price

If anyone does want to donate to get the ads back up and running it would be greatly appreciated. Be sure to send your donations to CFI Canada:
http://www.cficanada.ca/support/
sparks

Who cares. Honestly who’s more annoying. A religious person ramming it down your throat or an atheist. It’s exactly the same.
ChristopherTK

@ sparks

We wouldn’t care, if many of the same religious people were not forcing their religious beliefs onto us via our governments!
Cabalavatar

Thank you, Richard. This is right in my back yard. I live in the Okanagan. I just finished donating as I wasn’t aware that the bus ads were stolen.
The problem with this area is its deep concentration of churches (mostly christian). I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if this were an act of vandalism.
Tim D.

Who cares. Honestly who’s more annoying. A religious person ramming it down your throat or an atheist. It’s exactly the same.

I’d say a person who commits *actual* crimes against the property of other people is the more annoying party. If someone’s “shoving their religion down my throat” with a bus ad, I can simply choose not to care, or — heaven forbid! — look away. However, if someone steals my shit, suddenly I am no longer as free to ignore the consequences. So I’d consider that to be a significantly higher order of “annoyance” than someone trying to market their beliefs.
WMDKitty

“no idea what happened,” my ass.
Richard Wade

Transit decals are not as difficult to remove as you would think, they really don’t require any specialized equipment.

An investigation by the service operator found no evidence of unauthorized entry into the Kelowna Regional Transit yard, nor detected removal of the signs by anyone before they were discovered missing on April 29. With no witnesses or video surveillance to go on, how and when the advertisements were removed remains unknown.

One glance into the dumpster in the bus yard would probably have revealed two sticky, wadded-up ad decals with a Kelowna Regional Transit employee’s fingerprints all over them.

But it’s been a week, so the trash has been collected.
CanadianNihilist

In the long run the theft brought them far more publicity then they would have ever achieved normally.
My mum asked me if I knew about the stolen atheist signs, she also knew what they said, and she’s as pretty far out of the loop with things like this as one can get.

So even if they get stolen again, headlines will still be made. Thanks stupid insecure religious freaks.
Brian

So christians are thieves as well as liars and hypocrites. I know this is anecdotal, and I’m only 67, but I’ve never met a christian who was not a liar and a hypocrite.
“Sell ALL that I hath and give to the poor? You must be nuts!”
“Visit the imprisoned? Minister to the sick? Clothe the naked? I’d rather be a goat!!”
Lion IRC

Will every other atheist here please be quiet and let Brian be your official spokesperson.

Brian says:

“..Christians are thieves as well as liars and hypocrites… I’ve never met a Christian who was not a liar and a hypocrite…”

Right on cue, the ugly stereo-type, pin up poster boy winning hearts and minds for the cause of atheism.

Yep. I think your billboards were vandalised on purpose by people like Brian.
Lion IRC

Now stop worrying
…about putting up billboards about God (dont forget – you’re atheists!)

And enjoy your (short) life.
…living like theres no tomorrow!
Lion IRC

“…with a Kelowna Regional Transit employee’s fingerprints all over them…”

Wait!

Did he just publicly slander a clearly defined group of identifiable people?

Better get your lawyers to have a look at that post Hemmant.