Four lawn signs supporting the Republican presidential ticket along Park and Pontiac streets were maliciously damaged sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning.
‘It’s sad that in a small town like this that we’re having this kind of problem,? said Park St. resident Tom Warmoth, who awoke to find a large square cut out of the center of his blue-and-white sign. ‘This is kind of ridiculous. I just got the sign (Thursday).?
Now, instead of promoting the names of GOP presidential candidate John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the sign advertises a large hole.
All four signs were vandalized in the exact same manner.
‘Where’s the police when you need them?? said Pontiac Street resident Kurt Kuehn.
‘I wish I would have caught the guy that did it,? said Park Street resident Sarah Reyes, who was very upset by the act. ‘What kind of neighborhood are we in??
On the surface, the attacks appear to be politically motivated since all four were GOP signs. Plus, both Warmoth and Reyes had lawn signs promoting Rudy Reyes, an independent candidate for township trustee, and neither of them were vandalized.
Most saw it as an attack on their freedom of speech.
‘It’s your decision who you want to vote for and if you want to display it, you should be able to display it,? Kuehn said. ‘I walk by Obama signs and I don’t agree with his tactics, but I’m not going to cut up somebody else’s signs. They have a right to whoever they want to vote for.?
‘It just amazes me that some people seem to think they to have the right to do whatever they want, but other people don’t have the right to express their support for somebody,? said Park St. resident Margaret Reyes. ‘It’s just irritating.?
‘There’s definitely an animosity, not necessarily against me, but against what I stand for,? Warmoth said. ‘Whether I disagree with you or not, I’m not going to go out and destroy your signs or your property.?
‘It just shows what kind of people are really voting for the other candidate,? Sarah Reyes said.
Kuehn plans to get another McCain/Palin sign and put it right next to the vandalized one. ‘I’m going to leave it up there to draw more attention to it,? he said. ‘It’s unfortunate people have to go to that level.?