I'm gathering stories about yard sign/car vandalism/theft/abuse

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

of your Kerry gear. Please report them here. Pictures are even better. I think even in blue states, the bush signs are staying up far more than Kerry signs in red or swing states and I need more reports to see if this holds up.

[Nancy Waterman]

1. There were several stolen in my neighborhood a couple of weeks back

Nothing recently that I know of. We are in a Democratic area in MD, but it was only KE signs stolen or shredded.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

2. They estimate over 1000 Kerry signs stolen in Ft. Worth Texas

and the Tarrant County Dems have gotten *2000* more and are putting them on their ROOFS to help deter people from stealing them.

[mopinko]

3. confession

i was in ohio a couple of weeks ago. i was getting so sick of seeing b/c crap. there was a car with michigan plates, and a "this is bush country" bumpersticker. it was a hotel associated with an amusement park. i couldn't help myself. i peeled it off.
at least i resisted the next day when i saw the suv with a giant, "kerry is osama's man, bush is mine." sticker, covering the whole rear side window.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

4. You know I have to spank you now right?

That gives us bad karma!

Plus it's been shown it just makes people want to show their support for their candidate even MORE.....

[mopinko]

5. i know

i just couldn't help it. i think it was the setting, like seeing it at disneyland or something.

[formernaderite]

21. We should honestly admit it happens on both sides....

In 2000 I lived in a very democratic area, in a democratic safe state that Gore won handily....and I was the victim of having lawn signs stolen. Yes....they were Nader signs. But I've heard from folks on both sides how this happens...at least it shows that citizens are engaged.

[ClassWarrior]

28. We should honestly admit that some people do it on our side...

...but the other side is PATHALOGICAL about it. They know that the only way they can win is by lying, cheating, and stealing. It's the only way they won in 2000. There is no equivalency here. To wring our hands and gnash our teeth because "it happens on both sides" is to let these criminal RW psychos off the hook.

23.

[benddem]

6. Over 70 Kerry signs

including two from my yard have been stolen in Bend OR. I spoke with one woman who was replacing her third sign. People have attached them to trees to their homes and trying all kinds of thing.
We take our signs in at night. But just a while ago the dog started barking like crazy and the Kerry/Edwards sign was bent over and one leg was out of the ground. There was no one in sight when I got outside.
A few weeks ago, while walking the dog, I saw signs in the back of a car in front of a Repugs house. The police were notified...but I don't know if anything happened.

[NMDemDist2]

7. i don't know of any here (but we just got the shipment in) however

i have this overwhelming urge to buy red spray paint for the B/C 04 signs that are popping up on the street corners around here (I am thinking a big red "AWOL" or "Liar" would look so good)..

but I won't...

[NightTrain]

8. Thankfully, it doesn't appear to be happening in the Hartford, CT, area.

Of course, I live in one of the more comparatively liberal parts of the country. We don't tear down the Republicans' BUSH/CHENEY signs, and they leave our KERRY/EDWARDS signs alone in return.

Shame the whole country can't be that way. :(

[Nay]

9. My Veteran for Kerry sign disappeared after being up for 4 days

here in Richmond, VA

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

10. That's CRAPPY

but Virginia, I heard it was almost redder than Texas.

[Nay]

17. It is, except for parts of Northern VA. Just a hopeless case.

I live in Richmond, the most blasted, rundown 'capital' city of any state imaginable. Corrupt, still fighting the Civil War, etc. Just disheartening. I would not be living here if work did not require it. Hell, I'd give up my job here and move if the economy wasn't so shitty and I hadn't built up so goddam much time in this workplace. It truly sucks. We spend long weekends in West Virginia, where at least the scenery is nice and we know we are supporting tourism in Senator Byrd's state.

[roguevalley]

11. In Medford, Oregon Kerry signs are being taken. Several days of it on

the front page a couple of weeks ago. (www.mailtribune.com) and up here, Lisa Murkowski's office and her signs are getting vandalized by troglydites who don't think she's red-necked enough. I put her in because we have the prospect of electing a dem in Tony Knowles for the first time since statehood.

[Sugarcoated]

12. My Kerry sticker got partially scraped off,

but my signs, so far, are still where I put them. I live outside of Philly, in the burbs, pretty nice area and a wide variety of income levels in just my town alone. I've heard about numerous signs being stolen and bumper stickers being ruined, but for the most part signs that I see in my travels are staying put. Alot of the signs taken were in public areas, though. And, also, the Montgomery County campaign headquarters had their laptops stolen with all their volunteer lists in them, though there's no proof it was nasty righties. But it's possible, and I'd say, even probable.

[Lerkfish]

13. A coworker has had his Kerry sign torn down 4 times...

He just keeps putting a new one the next day.

sorry, edited to add this is in Dayton, OHio.

[Borgnine]

14. I had my original Kerry sticker torn off.

The one that was out before Edwards joined the ticket... it was torn off while I was parked at the mall. I live in Virginia, and there's a heavy feeling of panic among Bush supporters. They're getting abusive.

It doesn't matter though. I ordered five Kerry/Edwards stickers after that. I'm ready for them.

[DeepModem Mom]

15. kick

[ClassWarrior]

16. Some put a B/C* sticker over my Kerry one.

But that's pretty small potatoes. Although I did keep the scraps of the B/C* sticker in my car as a reminder.

23.

[kurtyboy]

18. FWIW, It happens both ways

The local GOP has been nailed lately--and around the suburbs of Seattle as well. This needs to stop--it invites retaliation, and none of us can afford that.....

http://www.skagitvalleyherald.com/articles/2004/09/23/news/news01.txt

[ClassWarrior]

26. That's the favorite chorus of the RW whenever they get caught...

...doing something illegal, unethical, or immoral. BOTH SIDES DO IT!!

Give me a fricking break.

From what I've witnessed, there are THOUSANDS of incidents of Bush* supporters trashing Kerry materials, while the opposite is virtually non-existent.

23.

[AuntPatsy]

19. Im beginning to think no one in my part of Texas is even going

to vote.... Besides my daugthers car that has a Kerry sticker and one neighbor with a Kerry sign, there is none others that I have seen anywhere, lawn car business, nothing?

And then today, I get out and drive places and low and behold, local election signs concerning our home town elections are popping out everywhere, so obviously, it is not that my town is not into voting..

Its' getting a bit strange after reading of all the signs seen by so many others on here...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

20. My Kerry sign was stolen from my front lawn last night

In mostly Democratic Minneapolis (my precinct went for Kucinich). Go figure. So I went down to the campaign HQ and got a bigger one, which I stapled directly to my porch, right under the motion-detecting porch light. The campaign people are keeping a record of stolen sign reports -- apparently there have been quite a few, especially in the suburbs. They recommend filing a police report, not that it will do any good. I just wonder if there is much theft of B/C signs, or if this is a predominantly Republican activity. My belief is that the RNC itself has turned so nasty and vicious (as we saw during their hate-a-thon in New York) that the local freepers feel they have implicit permission to trespass, vandalize and steal. It's all good because The Party says it's OK, even though they are committing crimes. Kinda like the Hitlerjugend, maybe?

[Roland99]

22. Check here, too:

http://forum.johnkerry.com/index.php?showtopic=79616

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

41. Thank you, good source!!! I should have thought to look there! eom

[AllyCat]

23. A guy in Milwaukee area

has had his yard signs taken so frequently he has a yard sign stating that it is illegal to trespass on his property to steal his signs!! I drive the same path almost every day and the Kerry signs seem to disappear and reappear consistently while the B/C ones remain in place.

Personally, I have had many people ride up on my back bumper (with K/E sticker and moveon sticker), flash their lights at me, and then pass me at high rates of speed, usually with a middle finger extended.

[ClassWarrior]

27. Welcome to DU! Are you in BrewTown?

23.

[newyawker99]

38. Hi AllyCat!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[lostnfound]

24. Here's a letter to the editor from the Houston Chronicle

Sunday 9-26 http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/2813869
Kerry sign stolen; Bush/Cheney signs still up:

Sign stealing a sad sign
WHEN I went out to get my newspaper one day last week, I saw that the yard sign I had for the John Kerry/John Edwards campaign was gone, as was the sign of my neighbors.

I saw several George Bush/Dick Cheney signs still standing.

My first reaction was one of anger, but that quickly morphed into deep sadness.
<Snip>
JULIUS C. ALLEN
Houston

[RoyalWickedness]

32. And then, of course, there's this

http://www.theadvertiser.com/news/html/2B5BBF65-30EC-409C-9F0B-1AF1F921B32C.shtml

and this:

http://blogforamerica.com/

excerpt:
Karl Silverman, one of the founders of the Neighborhood Democrats and SD 11 SDEC, wrote the following article about the vandalization of the Democratic Campaign Headquarters in League City, TX.

There was a terrorist attack in Galveston County. Glass was shattered as was the safety and security of every American citizen. It wasn't Al Qaeda but it just as easily could have been. In the middle of the night a car jack smashed a window at the Democratic Campaign Headquarters in League City. The terrorists left their calling card on the building for all to see and fear; it was a Bush/Cheney 04 bumper sticker. The police now have it as evidence.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

42. Good LORD that's horrible!!!

Glad to hear local Dems are undeterred. Sheesh.

[DemCam]

25. Lots of reports yesterday in Albuquerque

We're telling everyone that takes a yard sign to take it in at night or put a placard in the window instead of a yard sign. People called into headquarters really angry and some are reporting to the police just to deal with their anger.

These signs are expensive...nearly $5 each with shipping. I sometimes would like to indulge my 7th grade self...but I resist and remember the harm it does.

Let's give those adolescents detention and send their false hero to Crawford!

[Philostopher]

29. There are several anecdotal reports over in the Ohio state forum.

Some DUers who've had problems, some campaign workers reporting that people to whom they've taken yard signs have called the campaign to get them replaced repeatedly.

There's some measure of parity in my neighborhood -- oddly enough, it seems like the end of the street we live on is more Dem, the other end (houses that haven't changed hands in the past ten years) is more Rep. There are more signs for the Democratic congressional candidate in our district than for Kerry, and all but one of the signs at the other end is for B*/C, but so far neither the Republican or Democratic candidate signs have been molested right here.

I'm in Montgomery County, Ohio, by the way. I'm not as far south as Centerville -- one of the posters in the Ohio forum is, and she's the one who's reported a lot of sign-stealing.

[cmd]

30. Mine was spray painted and moved to the curbstrip

I reported it to the police. The local newpaper mentioned the report today. Apparently mine was the only one vandalized. Couldn't be because I've been an outspoken critic of the misadministration, could it? The sign is in my yard, paint and all, along with a new sign and two others for local candidates. I have four more local candidate signs in my garage. I'll alternate them every day.

[RoyalWickedness]

31. I posted my story here last week

My Kerry sign was stolen Friday night, and replaced with a Bush/Cheney sign... Put another one up and it was stolen Saturday night (no replacement, this time). Drove around Sunday, and ALL the Kerry signs in the neighborhood were gone. Bush ones, still up, of course. Since then, I've noticed an increase in the number of Kerry signs, none stolen yet this week...

[Kitka]

33. I had my car keyed recently, with a Kerry/Edward sticker on it… <m>

No yard sign incidents relating to this particular election… my house is up for sale and I’ve not put any up.

[AVID]

34. here's one

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=856386

[carpe_vinum]

35. Just one sign stolen and one bumper sticker removed...(m)

but there's still time for more juvenile antics.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

39. Hiya! eom

[coalition_unwilling]

36. My car antenna was bent over at a 90-degree angle (street parking)

All I can think is that the anti-war bumperstickers riled up the "lumpenvolk" (term used to describe the rabble that supported Hitler).

Haven't put a Kerry\Edwards bs on my car yet, b/c there are so many in Southern California. (I'd say the ratio is 20-1 K\E to B.)

[Elidor]

37. See this thread for a bit of payback:

http://WWW.DEMOCRATICUNDERGROUND.COM/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=179x519

Local wingnut stole Kerry signs for target practice. He's out of town right now, but the police found the signs on his property (with many bullet-holes) and the cops are waiting for him to get home. I just love a happy ending. :evilgrin:

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

40. Oooo that's a good one!!! eom

[feistydem]

43. I have 3 bumper stickers: Kerry/Edwards, Ken Salazar & MoveOn.org

Ken Salazar is running for US Senate here in that newly swingin' state of Colorado. My MoveOn sticker reads: Defend America, Defeat Bush.

Since I put the MoveOn sticker on my car I have been keyed repeatedly. I've owned the car 3 years. Never been keyed. Now it looks like it's been washed with a wire bbq brush!

On an aside, I live in an area where Texas tourists are abundant and I have frequently been flipped off by passing SUVs sporting Texas plates. I assume they don't like my bumper stickers since I'm a pretty polite driver, ha!

The Kerry sticker on my other car was ripped off.