Sign Avenger considers truce in fight against developers

WOODSTOCK - Joe Chao spent years uprooting unsightly developers&#39; signs that advertise new homes but also crowd roadsides in the booming north Atlanta suburb of Woodstock. <br> <br> Now, however, the man known as the Sign Avenger is considering giving up the battle against what he calls ``litter on a stick.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> That&#39;s because he&#39;s become weary of the effort and expense. He&#39;s also headed to court for the second time over his methods. <br> <br> Chao began his campaign in 1997. Since then he estimates that he has torn down or spray-painted more than four-thousand signs -- not only developers&#39; ads, but others for weight loss, computer training, work-at-home, or any of the other mass-printed small announcements placed along roads. <br> <br> His first brush with the law came in 2000 when a sign company took him to court. The charges were dismissed. <br> <br> At about the same time, Woodstock and Cherokee County officials agreed to ban small temporary signs in rights of way but to allow bigger, more refined ones to point the way to new subdivisions. <br> <br> But the practice of placing small signs at intersections and on rights of way has continued, as has Chao&#39;s bids to stamp them out. <br> <br> In November 2001 he was charged with criminal trespass over a defaced sign in Woodstock. He&#39;s also facing a charge of theft by taking involving a sign that was removed in September from the front of a developer&#39;s property. <br> <br> The 56-year-old Chao said he plans to ask for a jury trial on the charges. No trial date has been set on either charge.