Jon Shirek 11 Alive News

ATLANTA, Ga. — We all know about Superman and his alter-ego, Clark Kent. But in real life there’s a criminal side to that kind of dual personality. And on Friday, the FBI put up wanted posters on electronic billboards across Metro Atlanta, asking for help catching the “Granddad Bandit,” an older, kindly man who, agents say, robs banks. In multiple states. Again and again and again. And, obviously, gets away with it, every time.

“At least on one occasion he has shown a gun,” FBI Special Agent Ray Johnson told 11Alive News on Friday. “It IS a bank robbery, it’s a violent crime by nature.”

According to the FBI, Granddad is outwardly gentle when he approaches each teller. He quietly demands cash, then leaves before anyone else besides the teller knows what he’s done.

So far, the FBI says Granddad has robbed twenty banks in twelve states, since January, 2009. That’s an average of one to two a month.

“He has a very low-key, sort of granddad appearance about him,” Johnson said. “And he sort of uses that as a deceptive way to approach and leave the bank almost undetected.”

Johnson said Granddad has robbed four banks in Metro Atlanta, and that his most recent job was robbing a Bank of America on West Paces Ferry, on April 2.

FBI agents in Atlanta e-mailed bank photos of that robbery to an electronic billboard company.

And within thirty minutes a “wanted poster” was on multiple billboards next to Interstate highways in Metro Atlanta and the rest of the country.

“There’s an access point that this particular individual uses to get from place to place undetected,” Johnson said. “And with quality pictures like this, it’s difficult to believe that [in] a local area like Metro Atlanta, somebody doesn’t know who he is.”

Johnson said FBI profilers have theories about who Granddad is.

“From a construction worker that comes to different locations across the Southeast, to an over the road truck driver, any of those can be in play.”

And there’s a reward now of $10,000 for Granddad.

Peralte C. Paul, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Lawyers for the Atlanta businessman who said he was unfairly denied an indoor billboard contract at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport are scheduled to meet with city officials today in a pre-trial conference in federal court in Atlanta.

The trial in the civil rights lawsuit filed by Billy Corey against the city is not slated to begin until the summer, but the conference is designed to hammer out some procedural housekeeping, such as how many witnesses each side expects to call to testify.

The legal battle, which dates back to 2003, centers around a lucrative airport indoor billboard advertising contract awarded to Clear Channel Airports.

Corey’s company, Corey Airport Services, bid for the contract, but lost out to Clear Channel, despite his contention the city would have netted more revenue with his proposal.

The suit alleges that city officials rigged the bidding procedure to award the contract to Clear Channel, because its minority partner in the project, Barbara Fouch, was a close friend of the late Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson.

Fouch’s business interests with indoor billboards at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport go back to 1981.

Bidders get credit for including “disadvantaged business enterprises” or DBEs — small companies run by minorities or women — in their proposals to do business with the airport or other city agencies.

Corey Airport Service had a minority partner as part of its bid package, Maureen G. Malone, who now is a Fulton County magistrate judge. Clear Channel teamed up with Fouch.

But the city requires DBEs must be truly independent entities.

Corey’s attorneys contend Fouch’s wasn’t, because she rented office space from the Clear Channel and had no employees in Atlanta.

“She wasn’t really an independent business,” said J. Matthew Maguire Jr., one of Corey’s attorneys. “She was, in some ways, an extension of Clear Channel.”

Had city officials conducted a thorough review of Fouch’s business, that would have raised issues with Clear Channel’s bid, Maguire contends.

Marcus K. Garner, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta billboard outing cheating Oracle exec taken down

Two billboards calling an Oracle exec the eternal soul mate of a woman who is not his wife have been taken down in Atlanta.

One of the billboards at the corner of North Avenue and Piedmont Avenue was up most of the week and taken down sometime between Thursday evening and Friday morning.

That same message was taken down from a Times Square billboard, too. It’s not known whether others put up in New York and San Francisco remain, but it’s clear the scorned mistress of Charles Phillips, reportedly returning to his wife, got her message across.

“You are my soul mate forever — cep. Charles and YaVaughnie,” read the giant ad that also displayed a picture of Phillips with YaVaughnie Wilkins.

A second Atlanta-area billboard was up most of the week at Camp Creek Parkway and Washington Road, in East Point near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

It, too, was blank on Friday.

Sarah Martin, who drives an airport shuttle along Camp Creek every day, said the sign initially made her sentimental.

“That’s what I say about my husband, Martin said of the “soul mate forever” statement.

But when she learned the apparent story behind the billboard, she was disappointed and a bit amused.

“Nooooo!” Martin said. “I cannot believe this. That’s funny, but that’s gotta be one vindictive person.”

In a statement released Thursday to NBC Bay Area News in San Francisco, where tech giant Oracle is based, and where both Phillips and Wilkins live, Phillips admitted to the long-time affair.

“I had an 8½ year serious relationship with YaVaughnie Wilkins,” the statement said. “My divorce proceedings began in 2008. The relationship with Ms. Wilkins has since ended and we both wish each other well.”

Several media outlets reported that Wilkins paid for the billboards after she became angry over Phillips’ decision to reconcile with his wife. The New York Post put the story on its cover with the headline “Ad As Hell.”

Attempts to reach Clear Channel, which leases the billboard space, were unsuccessful early today.

Joe Moss, who works near the Midtown ad, said he thought the use of the billboards was juvenile.

“If you’re having a discreet relationship with someone, why not have a discreet breakup?” Moss questioned. “It would’ve been more mature to just approach the wife.”

He said the amount of money spent on the billboards — estimated by the New York Post to be as much as $50,000 each — was misdirected, considering current events.

“That could’ve been a small business loan for someone … or a whole lot of perishable goods to go to Haiti,” Moss said.

The billboards also displayed the URL of a Web site chronicling their lives together. The Web site, which was online Friday morning, has been on- and offline throughout the day.

In addition to being co-president for Oracle, Phillips was appointed to President Barack Obama’s Economic Recovery advisory board.

Return to AJC.com for more updates.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Admin

Atlanta – Marietta, GA —

Marietta City Council approves electronic billboards on I-75Mar 20th, 2009

Atlanta, GA —

Atlanta & Georgia Billboards Now a Tool in SearchBillboards along highways in several states urge motorists to be on the lookout for George Zinkhan III, charged with killing three people Saturday at a community theater reunion. Motorists on busy highways in at least half a dozen states will see the face of the University of Georgia professor who disappeared after police say he shot and killed three people in Athens last week.

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Atlanta, GA —

Most Wanted on Local Atlanta & Georgia BillboardsAUGUSTA, GA – Bobby Lee Roberson is wanted for a string of violent crimes in the past few years in the Augusta area. The FBI is assisting in the manhunt and now the Outdoor Advertising Association of Georgia and Lamar Advertising-Augusta is helping out.Space is being donated on several digital billboards and will contain a photo of Roberson and contact information for the FBI. There is a $5000 reward for information.

Katy Bachman

Coke also announced Monday (Dec. 29) it will debut a new “green” ad on New Year’s Eve: “Refresh. Recycle. Repeat.”

The Coca-Cola Company’s new digital billboard in Times Square is not only going green with its use of wind power, but it has also started the trend among 30 billboards at the iconic intersection of 47th Street and Broadway in Manhattan.

The US digital out-of-home (OOH) media industry – which includes video ad networks, digital billboards and ambient ad platforms – is on pace to grow 11.2%, to $2.43 billion in 2008 and now comprises 29.1% of overall out-of-home ad spending, according to the “Digital Out-of-Home Media Forecast 2008-2012” from PQ Media.

While PQ predicts the industry to experience a shakeout that will cause its growth this year to decelerate from 2007’s 24.5%, digital OOH is still among the fastest growing ad media in the US with an expected compound annual growth rate of 12.9% between 2007 and 2012. US digital OOH spending has tripled since 2002, growing 23.1% on a compound annual basis from 2002-2007 and exceeding 20% growth each year of the period.

Additional forecasts for specific media:

* US spending on video ad networks, the largest segment of digital OOH media, is on track to expand 8.1% in 2008 but will decelerate in 2009 before returning to double-digit growth in 2010.
* Digital billboards remains the fastest-growing segment, though it will be slower in 2008, posting growth of 28.2% and remaining in the 20% range through 2012.
* Ambient ad platforms will grow 6.8% in 2008. This growth compares with expected low single-digit growth or outright declines in most ad-based media in 2008 and 2009, including newspapers, radio, broadcast TV and magazines.

PQ media forecasts digital OOH spending in Europe, Asia and the Americas to grow 12.8%, to $6.11 billion in 2008. This growth is slower than last year’s 22.6% rate, but digitial OOH is still expected to expand 14.5% from 2007 to 2012.

Though the US now accounts for nearly 40% of global digital OOH spending, this share will decline over the next several years. Key international growth markets will be Russia, India, China, Brazil, and Australia, among others. These countries will benefit from major trends such as emerging market potential for operators, greater brand acceptance, advanced technology and new measurement systems, the report said.

The most active digital OOH brand categories in 2007 were CPG & electronics, followed by media & entertainment, food & drink, and retail. Overall, 66% of digital OOH ad spend was national versus local, with video ad networks featuring more national advertising and digital billboards generating more local, according to PQ Media.

Among the key trends going forward are the emergence of venue-based media solutions, which combine multiple digital OOH options and other marketing strategies, such as event marketing and sampling, to provide brand marketers with a range of out-of-home venues, platforms, demographics and psychographics to build brand affinity.

PQ Media also predicts that advertisers will continue to boost spending in digital OOH as consumers spend more time outside the home and reduce traditional media usage. Escalating gas prices, for example, prompted more consumers to utilize mass transit in 2008, creating expanded audiences for digital OOH advertising that reaches bus, train and subway riders.

“This medium is too powerful not to breakout at some point in the next couple years because the secular trends driving its growth are not going away,” said Patrick Quinn, president & CEO of PQ Media. “The industry’s direction is still evolving, but the adoption of standard measurements and business practices will go a long way toward placing digital out-of-home in theregular media mix.”

The digital OOH media sector enables advertisers to engage target consumers in captive locations during their daily routines through video advertising networks, digital billboards and ambient ad platforms. The media platforms are further categorized by various venues and locations, including theaters, retail, offices, entertainment,transit, universities, roadside, and on various objects.

MARY MacDONALD