Familiar sign may be temporarily unlit

David Skrobarcek

During the last five decades, a sign on the corner of McGregor Boulevard and Grove Avenue has given traffic going both ways a clear message: "God is Love." The words are white on black in the day and glow in green neon at night.

It is unclear if the sign is tied to any religious group, although it suggests that love itself is a higher power.

David Skrobarcek has lived in the house on that corner, which has a timer inside to control the sign's light, since the late 1990s. But soon, passersby looking for the benign, neon glow may be in the dark along with Skrobarcek, who has been unable to pay his electric bill.

His deadline to pay the $243 bill was June 3. Skrobarcek posted his own message on the sign's pole before that, asking for help with the bill. He has also left the sign on day and night to attract attention. As of last Sunday, no one had called.

"What bothers me is people drive by, they honk, but no one cares," he said. "It kind of blew my mind."

Skrobarcek joked that he wants to keep the sign glowing "for fear of God striking us with a lightening bolt."

But he added, "It's part of the house. It's not a historical landmark per say, but it is… Very, very rarely, someone stops to talk about it. Sometimes they come by and say, 'It saved my life.' Sometimes people come by and ask for money."

Twice since he's lived there, people have come to the house and given him $5 or $10, as a gesture of respect for the sign. Skrobarcek said about four years ago an anonymous group took the sign down, rebuilt it, and added a protective covering.

The sign has been shot at, sometimes with paintball guns, egged, and had beer bottles tossed at it.

"You hear people shooting at it once in a while," he said. "It's a landmark but it's not designated as a historical landmark. It's kind of like the Buddha Bar.

"You walk over there (to the sign), you'll see beer bottles there. I clean it up."

Last Sunday morning, there was only one beer bottle lying at the base of the sign.

"It's Sunday," he said. "Maybe someone feels a little generous today."

A few months ago, he lost his job as an air conditioning maintenance man. Although he now has a new job in the same field, Skrobarcek decided to ask for some help paying his electric bill until he gets his first paycheck. To reach him, call (239) 470-4119.

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"I won't have the money for a couple of weeks," he said. "This next paycheck, I have to pay the car payment. If I have to live in the dark, I have to live in the dark."

Skrobarcek's ex-wife bought the house about 12 years ago, and after he moved to Fort Myers from Corpus Christi, Texas they were married, and he moved in. The house, which Skrobarcek said was built in the 1920s, needs some maintenance, but definitely has Southern charm.

"There's no negative vibes in the house," he said. "You go in there and sit down and it's just…peaceful."

After their divorce, he stayed living in the house. He likes the sign, although only attends church occasionally. Since no one has contacted him about the electric bill, he's considering taking the sign down.

"It would grab attention if the sign went down," he said. "I don't know for sure if I'm gonna take it down or not."

He doesn't know how much the sign costs to keep running. One friend suggested he get the sign put on a separate meter.

"It's a miracle it's not off right now," he said. "The times are tough. Everybody's losing their job."

Records indicate that Clyde Daughtry, Sr., who had a 27 year career in the Navy, lived in the house and maintained the sign from 1957 until he died in 1985. And the Marco Eagle reported in 2006 that South Fort Myers artist Sherry Rohl created a work depicting the sign, switching the words and therefore, maybe the meaning, so it read, “Love is God.”