A few years ago, the mayor of Oak Lawn, a suburb in Chicago, got tired of people rolling through stop signs, or ignoring them completely, as they passed through his community. So he thought he’d get people to pay a little more attention. Underneath each stop sign in Oak Lawn, he placed a smaller sign that created a phrase. Soon, people passing through Oak Lawn saw traffic signs that read “. . . STOP and smell the roses . . . STOP . . . right there pilgrim , . . STOP . . . billion dollar fine . . . and STOP . . . in the naaaame of love.”

I think it’s a brilliant idea. Unfortunately, the Illinois Department of Transportation disagreed. They ordered the mayor of Oak Lawn to take down the smaller signs, or they would withhold funds for future road projects. The mayor took the signs down, but …