A controversial billboard message here paid for by a tea party group — ostensibly to get the vote out — is going too far,...Clarence Moseng thinks.

“To me, I think they should tear it down. To me it’s an insult to Elkhart County,” the Elkhart man said Monday. “I don’t mind elections, but we don’t need this kind of stuff.”

The billboard, reading “The Navy SEALs removed one threat to America... The voters must remove the other,” has generated support from many. Others, though, don’t like it, and about 25 of the critics, including Moseng, converged Monday afternoon below the billboard at Nappanee Street and John Weaver Parkway to protest.

The demonstrators — who organized via Facebook and word of mouth — included Elkhart County Democrats, Occupy Elkhart activists and a candidate for a seat in the Indiana Senate, Democrat Jim Ball. They held signs expressing their displeasure, generating a few honks and at least one shout from passing motorists.

“I am highly offended at that sign,” said Doris Stickel, a retired teacher and another demonstrator. “It’s ignorant.”

The message, put up earlier this month, was paid for by We the People of Marshall and Fulton counties, a tea party group. The head of the organization, Don Nunemaker of Plymouth, said late last week that the message was meant as a call for action at the ballot box on Election Day, Nov. 6.