PUBLISHED 7/8/08 ------

Caltrans officials have a difficult decision to make: Allow all organizations, except the most blatantly racist ones, to participate in the popular and useful Adopt-a-Highway program, or drop the program entirely lest the state agency lose its say in which organizations are appropriate players.

The question hangs in the air because a federal court has decreed that the California Department of Transportation may not deny the San Diego Minutemen the opportunity to conduct highway shoulder cleanup work on Interstate 5 near a Border Patrol checkpoint.

Caltrans had approved the Minutemen — a controversial, anti-illegal immigration organization — and then later tried to move the group’s two-mile stretch of highway to another route.

The Minutemen claimed Caltrans’ efforts to move the group (and the roadside signage that identifies the Minutemen as the sponsor) violated its First Amendment rights. The court agreed.

But these aren’t leaflets or public-square pronouncements. These are state-issued roadside signs that aren’t available to just anybody. Caltrans issues Adopt-a-Highway sponsorships to groups that meet certain qualifications, and it assigns specific highways at its discretion. It seems reasonable for the agency to assign sponsors in a way that will not aggravate or excite people hurdling along at 70 mph in two-ton metal machines.

Now that the Minutemen have received clearance, can MEChA be far behind?

Caltrans can acquiesce and turn California’s freeways into billboards for competing political agendas, or it can pull the plug entirely.

Or it can take a third approach: Turn the Adopt-a-Highway program into what it was conceived to be: an outlet for civic pride and sweat-drenched philanthropy.

Remove sponsors’ names from those roadside signs. The act of sponsorship should be based on a commitment to beautifying one’s surroundings. It should not be the desire to influence others on hot-button issues, or self-promotion.