Pine Road residents express their preferences. (David Boraks photo)
“As the election season is now upon us, we applaud all those involved in the political process. We must, however, remind individuals that it is illegal to remove campaign signs from front yards. This is considered private property and those caught will be fined.”
I received this notice from the Davidson Police Department
in my email in-box Thursday – perhaps you did too? It was a reminder that I am not alone in suffering yard sign theft this election season.
Yes, my first sign fell victim to the primary season.
(Read Bob Maier’s related commentary below about his experience with Davidson yard sign vandals.)
I won’t say who it was for, because I want to preserve my reputation as a fair and balanced reporter for DavidsonNews.net, and I certainly don’t want to be maligned as a member of the media elite. Just kidding. I’d love to see DNN listed among the media titans – so let me give you some straight talk and say that it was my Obama sign that got the big yank back in May. At first I thought this was because I hadn’t mowed my grass with due diligence, but then my Obama sticker was peeled off my car bumper. And then even a really thorough mowing did not bring my sign back.
Now, I admit to feeling itchy fingers when I have to walk past the yard signs for that other presidential candidate and his folksy, winking second, especially since his signs seem to be sprouting like dandelions in my part of town. But I resist. Because, like our police chief said, it’s illegal. And, like I said, I’m an upstanding member of the liberal elite – no, wait, the media elite. It’s hard to remember.
Yard signs come and go in my McConnell neighborhood. I’ve replaced mine. Sunday my neighbor realized her Obama sign had been nabbed. Monday, and with tremendous satisfaction, I plunked a stunt double in her grass. Take that, you Enemy of Rectangular Political Statements!
Another neighbor had an Obama sign appear and then vanish, but upon further inquiry I learned that this was due to marital disagreement, not night-time shenanigans. That household will probably be canceling itself out on Election Day. (I’m happy to report that me and my Joe Sixpack will be experiencing marital harmony in the election booth.)
It’s interesting that sign swiping has become a problem for me in this particular election year, one in which I’ve come to develop a personal relationship with my yard signs, primarily because I’ve had to pay cold cash for them. I’ve even resorted to pleading for them when campaign people say they’ve run out. Sometimes I find myself yearning for the good old days, when yard signs were free and over-stocked.
I moved here from Minnesota – a state that borders Canada and so makes me an expert on foreign policy. In my old neighborhood, politicians would court me for my yard space. If I felt sufficiently wooed, I would deign to let them proclaim their names along my sidewalk, but I was a difficult date. I expected signs to be paid for, placed and then removed by others. Like a one-night stand, I expected to wake up after Election Day and find that my yard signs were long gone. That was the deal.
Not this year. When it rains, or the morning dew seems unusually heavy, I go out and wipe down my sign. And I keep shelling out cash, like some kind of addict. There’s my original sign, its replacement, the backup reserves, and even some fancy gifts for relations. My step-father likes his Obama-photo-enhanced sign so much that at first he refused to put it out in his yard, fearing theft. When I protested, he started treating it like a pet and bringing it in at night. I can sympathize, because most mornings, the first thing I do is peer out my window to see if my sign is still there. Yep. Still there.
My fellow Americans, it’s going to be a tense few weeks until Election Day. I hope my sign makes it through to the end. If so, I doubt I’ll be able to part with it. Maybe I’d have more luck if I wore a flag lapel pin? Trouble is, I lack lapels. But I can say, with election year sincerity, “May God bless America. And may He smite the stealers of signs.”
Laurie Dennis is a reporter and editor for DavidsonNews.net.
Ok, so anyone that steals a yard sign is wrong. I agree. I have happily given away 3 yard signs to other supporters who REALLY want a yard sign. I don’t have one up right now. Probably won’t – but I will keep making phone calls & helping on canvasses, and ensuring that everyone that needs a ride to the poll, gets one.
If you know of anyone that needs a ride – let us know. The best way to change this election cycle is to volunteer – we need more “feet on the street”. We’ll train you and give you everything you need to succeed – and it is fun. If you want to sign up for this coming weekend, here is the web address.
OBAMA HEADQUARTERS – DAVIDSON (DAVIDSON, NC) (FOR VOLUNTEERS THAT LIVE EAST OF I-77)
582 DAVIDSON GATEWAY DR
DAVIDSON, NC 28036
Saturday sign up and details: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gsht8x
Sunday sign up and details: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gshtfr
Enjoy the season – and come make a difference!!!
Well, folks, my sign was gutted last night, and the Obama sign at the end of the block has a hole punched through the middle. Monday night, my neighbor’s Obama signs were run over – and had tire marks. You can’t tell that anymore, though, because last night they were stolen, wire frame and all.
My official tabulation of the anti-Obama rampage after driving through McConnell Thursday morning – at least seven signs ripped to shreds, at least three lifted from their wires, at least two completely gone.
Karl Rove would be proud.
We added a hand-lettered commentary to our yard — you can see it for yourself by driving by 100 North Downing Street.
I have heard of several other damaged signs overnight, Obama and Dan Murrey. Police have been called, and I know many with signs are becoming extra vigilant.
I don’t think tearing down a sign on private property will influence the election. If it is a political statement, then it doesn’t say much about the perpetrator. People are left to make up their own minds who and why it is being done.
The act is related to anonymous bombings in Iraq. Nobody claims responsibility, but it is a sign of distress in the community.
We can sweep it under the rug and say it’s just kids, but if so, where are these kids getting their ideas? That is a question that should be on everyone’s mind as we get closer to the election, and work to see that our disagreements do not include violent, illegal actions.
Suggestion I heard for protecting your yard sign:
Set up one of those Halloween spiders that jump up and down and goes woo-woo when somebody gets too close.
I’ve documented some of the damage over on my blog:
http://wordmunger.com/?p=966
Very disappointing in a town known for civil political discourse.
This morning several of the McCain signs I’ve grown accustomed to seeing on Concord Road appear to have been removed. Since I doubt there was a concerted effort by McCain supporters to remove their signs on the same day, I can only assume that similar vandalism is now occurring on both sides of the campaign ticket.
Sad, Davidson.
Five of our yard signs – McCain/Palin – were stolen between 6:45 – 8:30 p.m. Saturday night – while we were home with a birthday party going on inside and out. I assume it’s young folks – on both political sides – doing this. I would hate to think registered voters on either side of the spectrum would deface &/or steal private property and go against our protected rights to free speech. I am insulted by suggestions that caring adults are doing this to either parties’ signs – if they are, what a sad example for our children, college students and fellow townspeople.
By the way, please refer to today’s Charlotte Observer article – bottom half of Local section. A McCain political headquarters had signs and pictures defaced as well as graffiti painted over the weekend. The article is a pointed reminder and history lesson: the Republican Party originated with Abraham Lincoln.
We also live in McConnell, and have had two separate run-ins with sign-nappers…the odd thing is that we have had both Obama and McCrory signs nabbed. We figured we’d be safe, being on both sides of the argument, so to speak…but apparently, not so much.
However, one of our neighbors found our purloined signs in the storm sewer the other day, which oddly gives me hope–not so much for the understanding of right and wrong that some of us may have, but that at least we won’t spot someone with his/her garage full of them, or find out that some kid’s bedroom closet is full to the brim.
Or that in a few months–like in an episode of the Sopranos–that the police would find an unmarked, shallow grave out in the woods where thousands of campaign signs are moldering to dust (or, many being plastic, not). Or that the winds would eventually blow all the signs to some desolate cove on the lake somewhere, miles from where they were dumped in the water (and where generations of LKN kids would tell ghost stories about boats getting stuck fast by the hands of a long-dead political candidate in “sign cove.”
And finally, it gives me a little bit of hope for the stability of the local economy… As many Obama supporters know, those signs cost $5—and I was worried about what our economic downturn may have brought some of us to…stealing yard signs to be re-sold in some other jurisdiction for whatever they’d bring on the black market, like copper wire in unfortunate rust belt neighborhoods, or aluminum siding from abandoned homes in the Inland Empire of California.
Something does continue to bother me, though…the undercurrent of political “us versus them” that proliferates in many of the replies posted here. The “I don’t know who’s doing it, but it couldn’t have been my people, and this is why…” Really? I don’t think so. People from all sides say and do things during “the silly season” that they regret at all other times. Their kids and friends all learn lessons from them, and I would urge everyone to just stop and think of what lessons they’re passing on.
As someone’s already pointed out, the yard signs probably aren’t really having any effect on the election’s outcome, and they’re likely just (legally-protected) seasonal yard art. So if you can–as at least a few folks obviously can–draw, or paint, or can turn a particularly humorous phrase, be my guest. Do your own signs–it’d be much better for all of us, and they’d be much more interesting, no matter what candidate you’re pulling for. And my guess is that they’d be much less likely to be stolen, too.
Thanks, and I’ll step off the soapbox to let the next person have a turn.
I picked up a batch of Obama/Biden yard signs last night. Call me at 704-996-7724 if you would like one.
In the forest of candidate signs sprouting around Early Voting Site, Cornelius Public Library, you won’t see an Obama/sign, though there are several McCain/Palin signs, along with many other Democrat candidates for other offices.
I put an Obama sign there Thursday afternoon. Monday morning, it was gone. It seemed to be the only one plucked from the bunch.
It could have been a supporter wanting their own, or a detractor who felt duty-bound to stifle discussion.
Either way, I’m glad that of all the signs, Obama was picked as extra special. I think the national pre-election polls reflect that too.
Heard a strange sound at about 11 p.m. Friday night (Oct. 24) and opened my front door to find an SUV load of 20-something guys stealing the Obama signs from my front yard. They screamed obscenities at me and yelled that Obama is anti-American as they jumped back into their car and sped off. My nine-year-old son ran out the door behind me and got to witness the entire scene.
That puts my current count at two Obama signs slashed, four stolen.
I heard something interesting on the radio yesterday. You know $3 million dollar “overhead projector” at a Chicago museum that McCain railed against as typical of Obama’s pork-barrel earmark spending?
Turns out it was actually for the incredibly complex Planitarium projection system or one of the nation’s most visited museums, the Adler. It is replacing a 40-year-old unit with one that has helped inspire countless Americans to careers in scientific research. Something we sorely need as money for American science education has been slashed for decades– like the Obama signs.
Of course, this would have little interest to the yobs who stole Laurie’s yard signs. They’re promoting ignorance as a fine American value, as does McCain for whom the difference between a common overhead projector and a planetarium projector is too complex an issue.
Well, the guy doesn’t know how to use a computer either, so what use to him is any complex object that can’t be used to threaten or scare people.
All four Obama signs on our street were stolen last night (Fairview Lane in the “New Neighborhood”). The two McCain signs are still standing. I assume the same guys that hit Laurie Dennis’s house last night must have come through our way too. We are planning some outspoken homemade signs to replace the stolen ones.
Don’t worry about your Obama signs being stolen and defaced, with McCain signs still standing.
Just assume that every house without a McCain sign is an Obama supporter.
Our voices will be heard. Our front yard proudly sports a new sign that reads “You might steal my sign, but you’ll not steal another election”. It’s not as pretty or refined as the first as it’s crafted from ink jet printouts, cardboard from a pizza box, tape and a stick for support.
I’m not made of original issue obama campaign signs. I am however replete with printer paper, sticks and old pizza boxes and pithy slogans.
My contribution to the political dialogue this season is my custom-designed bumper sticker, “Sportsmen for Obama,” complete with outines of a big buck and a hunting dog. It’s right next to the sticker for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. I think I’m probably the only Democrat at my gun club or on the road to my annual elk hunt in Colorado; the diversity of opinion is a good thing.
My Obama sign was removed from my front yard in the wee hours of Friday Oct. 24. It is the third sign taken from my McConnell home.
I wish the people who keep taking my property (and my neighbors’ property) would find a legal and respectable way to express themselves. They are not winning any support for McCain by destroying Obama signs. Quite the opposite. I am even more determined to volunteer on the Obama campaign to fight the mentality of those who put their efforts into destroying and trying to silence those with whom they disagree. If you agree, please join us at the Campaign for Change office. 704-299-5168 (field organizer)
They got ours, too…but left the non-Obama signs. We decided to make our own, and are taking them all inside overnight for good measure.
Someone should tell these folks they’re not doing anything productive for their own candidate(s)–quite the opposite; they’re just solidifying support for the candidate whose signs they’re stealing and defacing. I really don’t get it, frankly…seems like 20-somethings would understand that by now.
I am an undecided voter, but after reading all of these comments, I’m
leaning towards McCain. Are all Obama supporters this obsessed with such
petty issues? No, I realize they are not. But, this is ridiculous. Ever
heard the phrase “Cackling hens do not lay eggs…?”
In the end, none of this will really matter…
It’s interesting how some people view free speech as bothersome, petty and ridiculous. To me, freedom to speak out on something as important as a presidential election is a precious right. I’m bothered by the cowards who rip out signs, not the ones who are upset about it.
We can agree that stealing yard signs is illegal and wrong, and we can agree that free speech is a constitutional right. In this circumstance, I have a hunch (and it’s just a hunch) that some mischevious kids caught wind of the fact that a practical joke was garnering so much attention. They keep stealing your signs because it’s become a bigger deal. I wouldn’t call them “cowards”. I’d call them kids. I certainly understand how it would be annoying, but I don’t think it’s some disgraceful act of politically inspired vengeance. At least, I hope not.
Signs of both candidates have been stolen. If your Obama sign was stolen, you are a victim and the person that stole it is probably a spoiled elitist from a rich neighborhood. If your McCain sign was stolen, it was most likely by a victim who has been wronged by the system and you are a spolied elitist who just doesn’t understand how bad things really are. ACORN workers are available to reinstall your Obama signs at a small cost if you’ve already maxed out your ind contribution limit to Obama08.
Carly, I am sure it’s unsettling to feel that a group of voters might be characterized by feelings you consider petty. However, I urge you to redirect your thoughts back to the candidates and what they represent when you consider your vote. What a shame it would be to cast your ballot based on impressions of the behavior of one candidate’s supporters or opponents and not on the real issues at hand. There are significant, substantial differences between the two men running for president, and your vote should be based on which person you think might best represent you and your values, not on whose supporters more closely appeal to your sensitivities. Both parties have experienced distressing loss to their signs during this campaign season, and both parties have considered the unsavory notion that the opposition might be attempting to stifle free speech. While I am upset that such behavior has come to Davidson, I strongly implore you to take more into consideration for your final decision than the reaction locals are having over campaign signs being defaced or stolen.
Thanks, Carly and Mike, for attempting to bring this discussion back to Earth! Yes, theft and vandalism are wrong, but like Mike suggested, I believe the perpetrators are mostly young people. (And contrary to some opinions expressed here, not all trouble-making youths have bad parents, and they don’t all grow up to be bad adults.) The level of distress and indignation over this issue has really amazed me! Maybe that’s because I think this is just mischievous deeds rather than some evil-minded plot to suppress free speech.
Laurie was interviewed on Time Warner’s News14 Carolina over the theft of her signs.
http://news14.com/Default.aspx?ArID=601019
Sign didn’t get stolen? Make it a birdhouse
Now that the election is over, reader Michael Young passes along this link, to a site that offers tips on how to reuse your yard signs!
http://lifehacker.com/5086527/recycle-political-yard-signs-into-bird-houses