"You're Going to Love it Here"

Proposal to replace the bloody ridiculous "You're Going to Love it Here" signs with the state motto sounds good to me. Those new signs are cloying and idiotic.

New signs on New Hampshire's borders tell visitors, "You're going to love it here."

The only problem is the governor and other top officials hate them.

Along with most of the citizens.

"Right now, every time I go past those things I'm embarrassed," Senate Majority Leader Robert Clegg said Thursday.

Gov. John Lynch acknowledged that he, too, can't wait to get rid of the beige signs that depict a small village along with the "love it" slogan.

"It's true. I want to be there when they take out the first one," he said. "Those signs could be put up in any state in the country."

Personally, I'd prefer they just pull the damn things down and leave them off, but the government has other ideas.

The Senate passed a bill Thursday to require the state motto, "Live Free or Die," on highway welcoming signs. The motto could replace the "love it" slogan on the beige signs, or, more likely, appear on new signs.

Sen. Robert Letourneau, R-Derry, who sponsored the bill, favors the latter.

"I don't think adding the motto to an ugly sign will do any good," he said.

At $10,000 to change them, I say just take them down. And then hunt down who designed the signs and give them a hell of a good beating. Them and anyone involved that approved of these friggin' signs.

The motto honors the state's most distinguished Revolutionary War hero, Gen. John Stark. According to the state Web site, Stark used it in a toast in 1809 when poor health led him to decline an invitation to a reunion of the 1777 Battle of Bennington in neighboring Vermont. Stark said, "Live free or die; death is not the worst of evils."

I think the quote in full is far more indicative of the attitude of NH than the clipped version. At least it used to be.