BENSON -- If you're heading eastbound on Interstate 40 near Benson, it will be hard to miss a new billboard put up this week.

Put up by the NC Division of the Sons of Confederate Monuments, the billboard says "Help us protect our veterans' monuments." 

This comes as the state is currently taking public comments on whether to move certain Confederate monuments from downtown Raleigh in addition to the ongoing battle on whether or not to remove Silent Sam at UNC. 

"There are thousands and thousands of cars that pass that billboard everyday so it was a very cost effective way to get our message out that we are protecting our monuments," said Frank Powell, a spokesman for the NC Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans.

However, the sign is getting mixed reaction. 

Raul Jimenez, who currently lives in Durham but grew up in Benson, was initially charged in toppling a Confederate monument in Durham, although the charges ended up being dropped. 

"Growing up there, I saw a lot of Confederate flags- people wearing them on their shirts, people putting them on their trucks, all over the place so its not out of the norm to see that in Benson," Jimenez said. "It does feel like an attack."

He believes that while the billboard may get publicity, it won't do much to sway the opinion of the public.

"Billboards that continue to be put up, especially around the metropolitan areas, they are going to get a lot of lashback," Jimenez said. " In Raleigh, people are calling for the removal of monuments, Chapel Hill, Durham, Asheville, Greensboro, anywhere where there is a concentrated local activism."

However, according to Powell, the signs don't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

"We'd like to cover the entire state with them so a majority of the citizens would see them and it just depends on availability of billboard space and funding, so that is an on-going project," Powell explained.