City orders proud Iowa dad to take down big sign

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A proud Iowa father who placed a huge sign on his property to congratulate his seven children for graduating from high school has been ordered to take it down.

Clayton Mace of Sioux City erected the 24-foot-wide sign with his children’s names and the years they graduated from West High School on the hill behind his house, which is visible from Interstate 29.

The Sioux City Journal reports that city officials told Mace the sign violates city zoning laws and he has agreed to remove it.

City official Jeff Hanson says code only allows small political signs and those for home-based businesses in residential areas. He says Mace’s sign “is one of the largest ones we’ve encountered.”

Mace says he didn’t mean to break the law.