Biography By Donna Lengel

2021 – In Buffalo Gary signed a lease in April with the Seneca Tribe and built the sign off of Interstate 90 in downtown Buffalo.  This digital sign was twice the size of any other billboard in Buffalo, New York. It was 20 x 60 feet, 1,200 square feet total as compared to 14 x 48, 672 square feet total.  They had to drill through ten feet of granite to implant the pole 45 feet into the ground to support the 80- foot-tall structure.  As part of the agreement, they had to pay for a digital gas price changing sign and an illuminated Seneca Casino sign on our vertical pole.   He obtained the vanity number 833-OUR-SIGN and leased the sign from his home in Palm Harbor, Florida.  The sign had a digital camera on it proving that their advertisement had been posted.   He has never seen that sign with his own eyes and has never been to downtown Buffalo.   Without any salespeople, he leased, sold and operated this sign as well as the 90 other signs in his corporate inventory.  He helps clients with their artwork, makes recommendations to the graphic artist and helps all clients finalize their ads.  Since then, he uses 833-OUR-SIGN on all his signs.   People remember it without writing it down. He lost his stepmother, Patricia A. Barbosa in December 2021, but before she passed, she sent him old family movies from his grandfather dating from the 1940’s to the 1970’s.   2022 – In May 2022, he lost his biological mother, Bonita Lucille Barbosa to lung cancer.  They had it beat but it came back.  After four years, her P53 gene stopped working, which is a gene that we all have that prevents cancer from starting and growing.   Elephants have fifty P53 genes and they never get cancer, a promising field to research. The four years of chemotherapy and watching his mother slowly succumb to cancer was the worst time of his life, as it is for everyone who experiences this.  She never smoked but due to exposure in early life the damage was done due to secondhand smoke.   Ironically, his brother Joseph Matthew Barbosa, has the exact same sized lesions in his right lung, which is being held in check by 8 pills per day.  So far it has been working for several years and he is in complete remission.   They both lived in Toms River, New Jersey not far from each other.  It is well known that Toms River is a hot bed for cancer, perhaps they both acquired cancer environmentally. Larmar Outdoor one of the biggest outdoor advertising companies in the southeastern United States, purchased Gary’s Buffalo sign for four times what it cost him to build.   They stated that it drove them crazy since they could see the sign from their office windows in downtown, Buffalo, and upper management wanted heads to roll due to their real estate department missing the best location in downtown Buffalo, New York.   Gary discovered that while they were building the sign, Lamar tried everything they could to stop him.   Since the sign was on native American land, the sign required no local or state permits.  They were powerless to stop him. 2023 - Gary traded in one two-sided sign to the City of Tampa, for a new location for one digital sign on Interstate 4, 1.6 miles east of downtown Tampa.   This sign is the first and only sign that has been built in the middle of the Interstate Highway system in the State of Florida.  Gary calls it Tampa 1.   This sign was operational on 12/23/2023, and has put his company, Champion Outdoor on the map.  Every business in Tampa Bay now knows his company.   This exposure has also led to his leasing these same new customers other signs in his inventory.   In the outdoor advertising business, the more signs you have the easier it is to operate them.   This sign has appraised 10 times what it cost Gary to build and enabled Gary to get a significant line of credit for future builds. Gary has accumulated five (5) talented and motivated joint venture partners in the billboard business as follows: A.G. – California and North Carolina; B.B. – the Continental United States, focusing on North Carolina, and Dallas, Texas; A.J. – the Continental United States; B.S. – former real estate manager at Outfront Media; T.G. – one of his closest friends and motivated salespeople. Extortion - Oakland California – Gary signed options for three land leases with the East Bay Municipal District (EBMUD) and partnered with Clear Channel who had billboards to take down in trade with the city of Oakland to get the permits to build new digital signs.   However, the city required that certain charities be paid annually as part of the City’s compensation for the granted permits.   The annal fees due to the charities / Oakland, surpassed the land rent to the landlord.  But the numbers still worked so Gary and his partners went along with it.    After two years, Champion was left out of the deal by the private billboard company who chose to work with OutFront Media instead of Champion. Gary was astounded by this corruption and was justified in his sentiment when a grand jury investigated these proceedings in the City of Oakland, California.  In regard to the billboard deal between the city and the other companies, the grand jury found that the city council: Disregarded the expert advice of city staff, as well as a consultant the city hired. Used a noncompetitive and nontransparent process to select the billboard companies, as well as the nonprofits that receive revenue and free advertising; and Allowed lobbyists for the billboard companies to exert “undue influence” over the process given that they wrote their terms into the resolution the council approved. The grand jury also stated that the council members with a potential conflict of interest should have recused themselves.  The officers of the selected charities recommended by the city were the wives and relatives of the council members and city commissioners. June 2024 -The FBI raided Thao's home (the Mayor of Oakland) and properties linked to the city's recycling contractor, California Waste Solutions.  July 2024 - The investigation had expanded with subpoenas being delivered to the Oakland Police Department. The city of Oakland currently has a historic annual budget deficit of $360 million, therefore they extort businesses for money due to the entitlements expected by their population.   Gary and his partners have made an exit of Oakland but after learning how California does business, they have made deals with other California municipalities that are more reasonable and even more profitable.  2024 – Eureka Moment # 2 – Several entrepreneur opportunists (“EO”) called his billboard company on numerous occasions as follows: “We would like to offer you $ 1,000 per month to put our digital equipment on your signs,” the EO said. “What kind of equipment?” Gary asked. “Security cameras that read license plates, Wi-Fi and equipment to track cell phone data,” the EO said and sent an Email with a graphic representation of the equipment mounted on a billboard.  Gary researched other companies that do this, the largest being “Wireless Guardian.”  It seemed they were successful at getting independent billboard companies to lease them their billboard sites.  Another one of Gary’s joint venture site finders confirmed that an independent company was paid over 1 M dollars for the use of their billboards by digital data companies. On another digital opportunity, an EO sent Gary the contract for consideration.   Understand that over the years, although Gary is not a lawyer, he has drafted so many legal documents that have been checked by an attorney friend of his for years, that he is very good at understanding legalese.   In the contract for digital placement, it said that the company could cancel the lease and remove the equipment if they did not receive at least $ 4,000 per month from selling the collected data. “They are paying me $ 1,000 per month, but they are making at least $ 3,000 or more per month per sign profit.  I want in!” Gary said. One field electrician and one data technician were referred to Gary by another electrician Gary has known for years.  They were disgruntled employees of another company who serviced for years cellular towers and the digital industry.   Their company was not running well since it was falling behind in paying their employees, such as the data technician Gary was talking to.  The data technician was owed $ 150,000.   Since this data technician ran the company under the CEO, he had asked Gary if he wanted to purchase the company.  Being too large for consideration, the technician offered Gary a position to fund his new company, but Gary declined due to the investment structure.   They did however form a joint venture, Champion Technologies, Inc., (www.champion1tech.com).  They have installed on three of his billboards, digital security cameras, Wi-fi and signal boxes that capture cell phone data.   The data sets are being organized to see what the industry will pay them for that data.  This could be another windfall, or another bust.  Only time will tell, but here he goes again. Once a serial entrepreneur, always a serial entrepreneur. Champion Outdoor (www.championoutdoorads.com) has obtained the permits for a second digital sign the middle of the highway on Interstate 4 in Tampa, “Tampa 2” and they are finalizing a deal with Hillsborough County for three more digital faces in extraordinary locations. Gary’s Champion is working on the following sites to develop, manage and then sell after one year of operations. 1: Los Angeles 2: Dallas, Texas 3: Miami, Hollywood and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 4: Cleveland, Ohio On September 19, 2024, the patent for the three- sided digital car top will be granted by the United States Patent Office.   He will now file the patent for the software that will power these car tops so that he has a second patent to protect this business venture. Patents – Learning how to file a patent due to the three- sided car top display, Gary has filed three other patents for consideration. 1: Modular Electronic Storage Assembly – Cabinets to store electrical equipment circumferentially. 2: Connection Cradle – Connecting a 100-foot cellular tower to the top of a billboard 3: Centrally Illuminated Street Light Structures in the form of obelisks and decorative classical columns.  Literary Projects – Once Gary finishes the Curse of Athena Novel Series 1-5, he has already started a second set of novels called, “American Immigrants, The Quest of Prosperity”.   This will be a multiple novel set about his family’s quest for prosperity over three generations.   Similar to the Curse of Athena novel series, Gary has designed the covers and wrote the copy for the story and the back of the books. Summary - All development along the west coast of Florida and in Tampa is not for sale, but a long-term asset.  If his digital aspirations materialize with Champion Technologies, Inc., and he builds at least two digital signs in the above-named markets and sell them, Gary may be able to build his dream home before he is too old to enjoy it.  He owns 2.75 acres of property in a gated golf course community.   Gary just does not play golf. He works out five mornings a week and runs or bikes at night weather permitting.   There is a boat membership that he states that he does not use enough, mostly due to inclement weather.   His daughter and he are season ticket holders for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which is a great venue to experience.  “The national anthem, waving flag and fly overs from the local military base are iconic and will max out your American patriotism,” Gary radiantly exclaims. He keeps his medical license current and works out of his house with no employees.   His seven joint venture partners work independently on their mutual endeavors, until they need his legal expertise in drafting documents, agreements or spreadsheets to analyze the project.   Once a decision is made the sign is built with financing supplied by Champion Outdoor, who also operates the sign for one year until the long-term capital gains period is reached.  Life Reflection - Gary started with a simple life plan to practice medicine, only to retire from it after 15 years in 1998.  Now he runs two billboard companies, one digital company in its infancy and possibly a car top advertising company.   He owns a one of a kind 1968 Mustang, “Wolverine”, a 1970 convertible Shelby Mustang, a big block 1972 Chevelle and a 1984 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz.    His house is paid for, and he has good friends, but he welcomes more. Gary has grown to know that “It is better to have a full life, instead of a full wallet.”    In his case, he hopes to build something with his wallet that his friends can enjoy. Dedication to Those Who Serve – Gary purchased a 2017 Cadillac Escalade and has outfitted it with patriotic images honoring police, firefighters and our military.   It features train horns to announce the start of a parade and a exterior mounted sound system to broadcast patriotic music for special events.  He has created a website for other like- minded Patriots who wish to feature their vehicles on his website – PatriotTruckClub.com.  He uses his vehicle for  patriotic events, parades and to honor those who serve. To Contact Gary: Email: garybarbosanj@gmail.com Phone: 727-787-2158 Biography By: Donna Lengel, Novelist, Screenwriter Video Clips