After his 'Veterans for Biden' sign was vandalized 7 times, Vietnam vet sets up cam to catch perp

[TheRealNorth]

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2020/10/28/trail-cam-used-catch-saukville-man-who-drove-over-veterans-biden-yard-sign/6060922002/

Ted Poull was an infantryman in Vietnam so he can handle himself in a fight.

After his large handmade "Veterans for Biden" sign was vandalized seven times since mid-September, Poull had had enough.

The 4-foot by 8-foot plywood sign includes a painting of Poull's uniform and medals, "Veterans for Biden" and the phrase "No ID required" at the bottom. He's not a fan of Wisconsin's Voter ID law.

He's had cardboard yard signs stolen from his rural Town of Saukville home and someone has driven over his large plywood sign numerous times.

"I kept putting it up. They kept knocking it down," Poull, 71, said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon.

Poull, a retired carpenter and construction supervisor, even painted "I Won't Back Down" on his sign. It got knocked over.


So he put up a trail camera commonly used to take photos and video of wild animals. On Oct. 18, someone drove their car across Poull's lawn and knocked over his "Veterans for Biden" sign and damaged his yard.

He contacted the Ozaukee County Sheriff's Department the next morning and the trail cam showed a vehicle with what appeared to be a sticker of a skull on the back. The deputy told Poull it was from the comic book character the Punisher.

This image from a trail cam shows a vehicle running over the "Veterans for Biden" sign that Theodore Poull put up.
Using images from the trail cam, deputies determined the make and model, which helped them track down the vehicle's owner — Daniel Seyfert, 51, who lives near Poull in Saukville. Seyfert admitted to deputies he intentionally damaged Poull's signs by driving over them with his vehicle, the sheriff's department said.

The trail cam images helped authorities determine who ran over Theodore Poull's sign supporting Joe Biden for president.
Poull wasn't told the name of the sign vandal but deputies said the man lives nearby.

Seyfert was cited for criminal damage to property, hit-and-run property damage adjacent to a highway and failure to report an accident. The sheriff's department has also requested Seyfert pay restitution for damages to Poull's sign and property.

Poull served in the Army from 1969 to 1971, including a tour of Vietnam, earning two Bronze Stars, the Army Commendation Medal with "V" device for valor, Combat Infantry Badge and the Air Medal for 22 combat assault missions while serving in the 1st Cavalry Division.


Poull, who has already cast his vote, knows tempers have flared across the country during this election. And he understands that Trump and Biden supporters sometimes get into heated debates with each other.

But he's perplexed as to why someone would get so angry they would drive their car across his lawn and knock over his sign.

"If I haven't earned the right to voice an opinion, then who in the hell has?" Poull said.

[Girard442]

1. Puts me in mind of a guy I once knew who got tired of people running over his mailbox.

So he anchored a piece of oil well drill stem in a concrete pour and mounted the mailbox on that.

Sometimes you run over the mailbox and sometimes the mailbox runs over you.

[erronis]

7. Yup. I was thinking of those tank-tread spikes - big four-spoked jacks guaranteed to stop

any yahoo riding on the yard.

[soldierant]

16. Ooooo! A jumbo caltrop!

Not a new idea ... but very, very effective!

[lastlib]

23. Where do you get some of those??

I want 'em!

I've had some people driving over my property to get to theirs when they could use the right-of-way. A few of those would sure stop 'em!

[Towlie]

54. I was thinking about that, but would you want that guy stuck in your front yard?

Actually I was thinking of a homemade equivalent.

It was perhaps less satisfying but more practical to sic the cops on him.

[Cirque du So-What]

14. I did almost the exact same thing

I lived on a rural state highway that had heavy truck traffic hauling coal. My mailbox was on the outside of a curve and got knocked down twice. I buried a length of 10" ductile iron pipe, filled with concrete, and mounted my mailbox on top. From that day on, i could hear trucks using the jake brake to slow down and avoid hitting that immovable object.

[ResistantAmerican17]

15. Lived on a county road and kept losing mailboxes.

I actually got permission from USPS to stack huge chunks of concrete around the base so they couldn’t get close, and filled the pipe with concrete. Never lost another one.

[csziggy]

25. Our neighbor in a small town did that will a railroad track section

After kids bashed and ran over his mailbox multiple times.

We heard the crash when they tried to run over it about a week after he put in the railroad track - the kids must have been driving pretty fast - it pretty much folded their radiator in half and destroyed the engine, totaled their truck. Later, the kids' parents tried to sue. Until then the man had not preferred charges. They day their suit was filed, he went to the Sheriff's Office and signed on for the charges.

BY the time the civil suit came up, the kids had been convicted of multiple counts of malicious mischief and they were all in juvenile detention. The judge for the civil case basically laughed at the parents' attorney and threw out their case.

[warmfeet]

41. Yep.

I like the way you think. The mailbox is about to run over tRumpers. Fuck'em, they bought and paid for their own misery.

[SoCalNative]

2. I'm more astonished

that he waiting until after it had been vandalized 7 times before he put up a camera to catch the culprit. Knowing the political divide that exists right now, I'd have put up a camera after the first time, or even as soon as I put it up.

[Mariana]

5. Some people seem to have almost infinite patience. nt.

[irisblue]

11. Different source said Poull put the camera up after the 3rd time

Sourcehttps://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/51-year-old-saukville-man-cited-after-driving-over-damaging-political-signs

snip..." By the third incident, the property owner had installed a trail camera that picked up photos of the vehicle driving over the signs and damaging his yard, the sheriff's department says.

Those images allowed the Ozaukee County Sheriff's Department to identify the vehicle, and eventually the man who had been damaging the signs."

The Ozaukee County Sheriff's Department brought that man, 51-year-old Daniel Seyfert, into custody where he admitted to intentionally damaging the signs. He was then issued citations for Criminal Damage to Property, Hit and Run Property Damage Adjacent to a Highway, and Failure to Report an Accident to Police.

In addition, restitution was requested to pay for the damages caused to owner's property.

[aeromanKC]

3. Build Back Better!!

[Sherman A1]

18. Precisely

[Mariana]

4. I'm glad Mr. Poull was able to find out who was vandalizing his property.

However, he seems to be a little unclear on the concept of rights, if he thinks they have to be earned.

"If I haven't earned the right to voice an opinion, then who in the hell has?" Poull said.

[UpInArms]

6. I think he may know what his rights are

and what he doesn’t understand is those who do not respect the rights of others.

[Hulk]

9. All people have rights...

..it's just that he actually stepped forward and served his country to protect those rights. I'm with Poull on this one. We sacrificed and risked our lives so that we all have those rights to express an opinion.

[COL Mustard]

22. Amen, Brother (or Sister) Vet

Thank you for having served!

[lunatica]

12. It's a common expression

The intent is to emphasize that if rights had to be earned that he had earned it through action on his part. Another way of saying you paid your dues to get something.

[reACTIONary]

20. You are right. nt

[Hulk]

46. The written words are often so lacking in clarity....

I've posted stuff on sites like this, and gotten attacked for something that wasn't at all intended. If we were sitting in a pub and I had a chance to clarify.....peeps would understand me. But we pump out 20-50 words, and the intent is often missing.

I don't have a problem with my fellow humans, as long as we understand, especially on this site, we all mean what is best for our fellow brothers and sisters.

Didn't mean any harm to anybody, and I don't think anyone else did either. Just have to be careful of picking apart fellows posts. They aren't often as clear as we'd like they were.

[The Wizard]

53. The man is a decorated combat vet

Those credentials carry extra weight that can't be had any other way. He never claimed to have extra rights, but said he did something most haven't that required extraordinary sacrifice and thus deserves the protection of the government that put him in harm's way defending our First Amendment right to free expression. We defended that right to apply to all. We're not suckers and losers as Donald Trump is wont to say. We're Democrats who believe we defended Constitutional guarantees for all people.

[marble falls]

59. Correctly, I don't have any rights anyone else does not also have. I do have the private knowledge

that I paid for mine. I risked my life and limb for my and everyone else's rights. My choice and no reflection at all on anyone else's choice.

[vercetti2021]

8. The Punisher

Would not be on these idiots side. They'll never have the balls to be Frank Castle. I wish Marvel would issue a notice saying we don't not associate with any right wing terrorism.

[greenjar_01]

10. Two bronze stars and combat V

I'd be determined not to fuck with Mr. Poull. They weren't exactly handing those out to all comers in RVN.

[lastlib]

26. This.

He's definitely not some run-of-the-mill beer-belly militia wannabe.

[TheBlackAdder]

13. I think the police cited the wrong violations.

.

Seyfert was cited for criminal damage to property, hit-and-run property damage adjacent to a highway and failure to report an accident. The sheriff's department has also requested Seyfert pay restitution for damages to Poull's sign and property.

It wasn't an accident if it was intentional wrongdoing, which is stronger than even reckless driving.

.

[onethatcares]

17. it begs to ask,

at this point in his 51 year old life, what has mr seyfert done for his country? Is he a retired veteran? An EMT? A first responder?

I don't have and am not going to get facebooked to find out.

Can we sing, "You about to lose your job" to him?

[Tom Rivers]

29. In my experience from red state world

A guy like Seyfert has probably lived off the government for a significant part of his life while damning government (especially democrats that helped set up programs he used) to Hell. A chickenhawk who spent his late teens/early 20s boozing and whoring around, then demanded everyone else's children go and die in war for our (republican) President. Guessing he's a fringe evangelical loon who has been brainwashed by years of Christofascist propaganda. A huge consumer of RW media and a part of astroturfed conspiracy groups such as the TEA Party and Q.

[onethatcares]

34. in a nutshell

and that just came out for some reason, he hasn't done shit except run over signs.

[keithbvadu2]

19. Snowman built on tree stump

[alittlelark]

45. Hahahahahahahah !!!!

[modrepub]

21. The Hardest Thing To Wrap My Head Around

Is that a Vietnam Vet is in his 70s. It's a stark reminder of the passage of time. I'm always surprised at how old the people my age are.

[getagrip_already]

28. yeah, I'm almost 63 and was too young to serve.....

The guys who went in around 68 had their asses handed to them. I still remember the stories about being sent into combat with half a machine gun or 1 clip of ammo.

It was not a smoothly oiled operation at the start by any means. And those guys are well into their 70's now. Korea was only a decade earlier.

And trump hid out on 42nd street. Not brave enough to fight. Not even brave enough to declare he wouldn't. He just payed a doc for a note.

And thought what kind of sucker would actually go there........

[modrepub]

35. My Father "Volunteered"

Was an Air Force Officer in '63 or '64 in the missile command corp. Years after he passed my Mom told me they'd talk with some of the officers who came back to the bases from Vietnam. I know that stuff upsets my mother so I never ask what she heard but I can't imagine it was pleasant.

I don't begrudge anyone who did what they could to avoid serving in combat over there. Not that it was fair to those folks who thought it was their duty to serve, got convinced that the cause was noble, were just plain unlucky with their lottery pick or didn't have the resources to get out or nerve to flee. It was an awful war that the politicians knew was a disaster, and they still wouldn't back down and admit their mistakes. War's a dying game. I can forgive people who don't want to play (and are upfront and honest about it).

I still don't think we've fully addressed that war. It's too bad because we could learn a lot about how to prevent a repeat of that mess (unless you consider Iraq and Afghanistan continuations of the same bad policy) and we could finally come to terms with that war before all of the veterans who served there are gone.

[Traildogbob]

37. The kind that were drafted

Without the right to vote. It was not a choice and calling us a sucker could get you knocked out.

[getagrip_already]

44. I doubt many zoomer's knows that ....

People between 18 and 21 didn't get the "right" to vote until 1971, or even that women couldn't vote until 1920.

Our school system has been degraded for decades to the point that any liberal history is simply not taught.

You could be forced to kill and die, but you didn't have the right to vote. And then you lost the ability to drink a beer.

Wait, "children" will be disenfranchised by scotus if it comes up. Maybe even women folk.

[Evolve Dammit]

38. Spot on post.

[Pacifist Patriot]

51. My dad was in country 1968-9.

He's 78. Still can't wrap my head around the age of Vietnam vets and I grew up with him. 😊

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

52. I'm 72, and sometimes I can't believe how old I am

While I don't have quite the same medals Mr Poull does, I too have "seen the elephant" as they said in the Civil War. Combat Infantryman's Badge, one Bronze Star with "V" device, two Purple Hearts and an Army Commendation Medal. I was in 1/503d, 173d ABN BDE 68-69. (Had I been there one more week, I would have been transferred to the 75th Ranger Battalion, like all the other LRRPs.)

[Tom Rivers]

24. Republicans hate our vets

Especially the ones who don't tow the line and wrap themselves in the flag for the GOP.

I've been disgusted by the "you're only a patriot if you support republicans" attitude that has been around for a long time but really seemed to hit a fever pitch in the Dumbya administration, but I've never been as disgusted as I am at them ripping our vets to prop up a sorry son of a b**** like Trump. God they're just all sorry bastards.

[WinstonSmith4740]

27. And how much you want to bet...

The jerk that kept knocking down his sign never served. Just like his cowardly hero.

[louis-t]

30. Seyfert will be the guy claiming

he 'supports the troops'.

[Moostache]

31. I immediately thought of this clip from "Apocalypse Now":

"It was the Air Cav...first of the ninth...Well,...Air Mobile...those boys just couldn't stay put."

?t=35

[WyattKansas]

32. And I hope Mr. Poull is actually awarded prevailing wages for all the damage repairs from the...

Coward piss ant that probably does a lot of bragging about his alleged military service, without any credentials to back up his claims.

As for those questioning Mr. Poull for his choice of words about earning rights... You are taking out of context that he was only saying that if he had not earned the right for his military service, then do any of us really have any rights at all? One of the common codes for those who were in the military is to protect those who cannot protect themselves, along with other honorable traits of duty for country which is it's People.

Do they lose their way sometimes? Sure, but it is more of the fault of the leadership of those they are under and they are lost. It is a human flaw found in all people, but the U.S. Military is unique in trying to prevent and remove those flaws.

[liberalgunwilltravel]

33. True hero

HooRaah! Soldier!

[Cha]

36. Wow.. I love successful stories like this..

of the criminal being Busted!

What a great ending to the maggot's mad rage at Biden for President signs. What's the brainwashed idiot gonna do if trump is wiped out?

Ted Poull's' Persistence!

[FakeNoose]

39. Tire shredders work too

You know, those spikey things that destroy your tires if you try to leave the parking lot without paying? Mount some of those tire shredders around the edges of the sign. When the assholes knock it down and drive over it, they'll get a nice little surprise from the Welcome Wagon lady.

[Evolve Dammit]

40. Ted Poull: Salute. You are the patriot, to all in this thread. Seyfart is a cowardly vandal. Done

[Joinfortmill]

42. Shouldn't mess with a Vet.

[ailsagirl]

43. Honestly? If someone put up a huge trump sign next door to me...

I wouldn't touch it-- free speech and all, right? And even without free speech, it's just not right to destroy someone else's property just because you don't like who they're supporting. (Many thoughts, though that's another thing... )

trumpers apparently work on a different level-- a much lower level.

It figures, really.

[DBoon]

47. and you want everyone to know your neighbor is a Trumper

kind of like a sign saying "Warning - vicious dog"

[ailsagirl]

50. heh heh

[MustLoveBeagles]

48. K&R

"If I haven't earned the right to voice an opinion, then who in the hell has?" Poull said.

[mwb970]

55. This is the enemy, folks.

[llashram]

56. per last line of this OP

many many millions of voters who have had their votes suppressed since the inception of the 64-65 Civil and Voting Rights Acts. Usually suppressed on basis of skin colour only Mr. Poull.

[BobTheSubgenius]

57. Who indeed???

T Poull is not only a hero, but clearly a man not to be trifled with.

[marble falls]

58. "If I haven't earned the right to voice an opinion, then who in the hell has?"

[Walleye]

60. Throw the book at him!