On a recent day in January, attorney Eddie Alley noticed something peculiar from his vantage point on the third floor of the newly renovated Limestone County Courthouse in Athens.

From a window in the jury room, Alley observed a message scrawled on the side of the First Presbyterian Church’s rooftop air-conditioning unit. It read: “Don’t Settle.”

Being a seasoned attorney, Alley knew the words were meant to be seen by people in the courthouse.

Initially, he thought the message might have been a stroke of advertising genius — a way for an attorney to advertise to those who have civil or criminal court cases pending at the courthouse.

He briefly pictured a similar sign bearing his own name: Don’t settle: Call Eddie Alley at 256-434-1096.

Surely dozens of new cases would roll in.

“I wish I had had the foresight to be so clever,” Alley said.

But, because the real sign bore no name or number, he decided the missive was probably graffiti sprayed on by a prankster. He snapped a photo of it and posted it to his Facebook page to see what friends thought the message meant.

Local attorney Jim Moffatt replied with the best quip: “I think it refers to the building itself and the foundation.”

When a Limestone County judge learned of the message a few days later, he telephoned the interim pastor at First Presbyterian and asked that it be removed. The message was, after all, visible from the jury room, where jurors go to deliberate cases.

The church, unaware the free legal advice might make a difference to anyone, quickly had someone paint over the words, said church member Tom Hand.

“This message was a piece of vandalism done years ago,” Hand said, noting no one really thought about what the message meant or that it might be an issue.

“When we noticed it, no one was in the courthouse because it was already being renovated,” he said.

In December 2016, however, court offices moved from the temporary Limestone County Judicial Center located further south on Jefferson Street back to the old courthouse.

Alley might be on to something, though.

Maybe Limestone County could sell advertising banners to local attorneys and fly them from the courthouse dome to help pay off the renovation debt.