Mail Pouch Chewing Tobacco

Ohio bicentennial barn painter Scott Hagan: Whatever happened to ...?

Whatever happened to . . .?" is a weekly series updating some of the most newsworthy and interesting local stories covered in The Plain Dealer. Have a suggestion on a story we should update? Send it to John C. Kuehner .

Today, we answer this question:

Whatever happened to Scott Hagan, the guy who painted Ohio's bicentennial logo on 88 barns across the state -- one in each county -- to celebrate the state's 200th birthday in 2003?

"Well, I'm still painting," says Hagan, who's 34 and now the father of two. "I've been busy enough since the bicentennial that I've made a living at it."

After finishing his last Ohio bicentennial barn in 2002, the Belmont County man kept right on going.

People wanted his freestyle paint jobs -- Hagan still uses an old-fashioned brush -- on their barns, silos, grain elevators, storefronts and gym floors.

At first, most requests came from nearby states: Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Eventually, though, customers hired him from farther away: Connecticut, New York, Florida, North Dakota and California. Hagan's painted American eagles, barn animals, a John Deere tractor, the U.S. Army logo, even a few replicas of the old "Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco" ads.

He has more than the obvious connection to the old chewing tobacco signs.

Hagan grew up about 15 miles from Harley Warrick, often referred to as the "last of the Mail Pouch painters,' a man credited with painting or retouching Mail Pouch ads on 20,000 or so barns over more than 50 years before his death in 2000. Hagan still uses a platform Warrick handed down to him.

"I wish he was still around," Hagan says, "because I really can't share things with other people who understand."

The out-of-state jobs have given Hagan, who calls himself the Barn Artist, a new goal. He hopes to paint a barn -- or any building -- in all 50 states.

He's got 35 to go.

"This is how I make my living now," Hagan says. "I'm going to take it as far as I can."

He gives speeches, too, talking about the five years he spent on the Ohio barns as well as a 17-barn project he completed in Madison County, N.Y., a few years ago.

Last week he was in Cuyahoga County, speaking to members of the Westlake Historical Society and the Westlake-Westshore Arts Council.

When the weather turns cold, Hagan heads indoors where he paints smaller signs and works as a substitute teacher.

heiczernewdust: results of chewing tobacco

To mailmy_gc : You are very lucky to have it on the 100th day i guess..Mine is pending 98 days and i went to local office - Newark, NJ today and they told me your file is with the IO and you are probably struck in background check - cant understand he spend 90+ days on background check alone! and i am still counting. I met atleast 3 people whose EAD is pending and expired and are counting days. I cant beleive USCIS is no ruthless and care a damn about legal immigrants. No transit visa required. I got an identical response when I checked with the german consulate in november. Nevertheless, I did not take transit visa, and with visa stamping expired in March 2010, I travelled with AP on Lufthansa from IAD to BLR in December, and returned in Jan 2011, and nobody even mentioned the word "transit" anywhere along the route. Lufthansa staff is very knowledgeable about AP, both in Wash.Dulles and BLR. In fact, In BLR I saw that even Air France also does not require transit visa for Paris and allowed people with AP to board without transit visa. So folks, dont waste time and money on transit visa. Nothing is going to happen , unless you miss your connecting flight in Frankfurt, in which case you will not get to stay in a hotel and would have to spend the transit time in the airport. this guy doggystyle piss me off, i had other things to do and was not going to attend, but he made sure that i attend and expose incompetency of these impotent people. bottom line - donna wants to be the one to testify to the congress, she wants to be famous. others are idiots and can't see this. here is what happened - total waste of time. doddy is right, could not hear more than 5 distinct voices, they use different ids to make it appear that the whole world is anti immigrant, they even said that on the call, bunch of losers durbin bill will not do enough, will only prevent these h1s to come here. but after durbin bill pass, anyone can send this job. in order to apply for a job in nj one has to through pune, india. they ask new h1b to sign bond contract, and if they leave before 18 months, they will ask to pay the fee. this is bond contract which is illegal in america since long time. #8 ads this is a govt. contract and the company is minority owned - the reason we attack minority owned or woman owned company is, it’s difficult to get this status and they are violating the spirit in which they got the minority status.

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