www.esryle.comLOCAL NEWS ACROSS THE NATION
Posted on 08/24/2004 7:21:53 AM PDT by esryle
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Hundreds of yard signs supporting Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry have been stolen and vandalized in this heavily Republican region known as "Bush Country," officials said, prompting some Kerry supporters to hang signs from trees to deter burglars.
About 350 signs have been stolen, according to Panhandle for Kerry organizers, which met with Pensacola police Monday. The group has distributed nearly 3,400 signs.
Police said they would increase patrols and Panhandle for Kerry members planned to conduct neighborhood watches, said the group's chairman, Jerry Holt.
"We have the availability, the funds and the will to replace every sign when we find out it's missing," he said.
Pensacola resident Anne Bennett lost four Kerry signs from her front yard before putting out a homemade sign that read "Nice people don't steal or vandalize." She hung her latest sign from a pine tree limb 15 feet in the air.
"It's like you don't have a right to participate in the public debate unless you are in the majority, and that is not one of the principles on which our country was founded," she said.
Northwest Florida is a Bible Belt region filled with military bases, veterans and Republican voters. In 2000, President George W. Bush beat Democrat Al Gore by better than a 2-1 margin.
Those caught stealing signs could be charged with petty theft or criminal mischief, said Bonnie Jones, Escambia County supervisor of elections.
Holt said he doesn't believe the thieves were affiliated with the local Republican Party
"In a seemingly related story, Florida toilet paper shortage continues....film at 11"
The signs are just blowing in the wind my friend
"It's like you don't have a right to participate in the public debate unless you are in the majority, and that is not one of the principles on which our country was founded," she said.
I wonder if this lady would say the same thing of the SwiftVets after Kedwards squealed that they had to be silenced.
The Louisville Communist-Urinal ran a story this morning about the same stuff - Kerry signs disappearing.
But with ours, the perps left behind a flyer, listing weblinks to the Swift Vets.
I tried to post it, but the C-J, a bug from the Gannett hive, is on FR's Banned List.
Sounds like someone is picking up all the trash
Sounds like a set up to me.
I don't encourage this kind of thing -- but I don't discourage it either. Let's leave it at that!!
Oh get a flippin' grip woman! This crap happens all the time. On both sides.
This is such a non story...
Could be a shortage of building material. Disaster relief and all.
HEY!
You Florida rebublicans, if it is yall doing this, knock it the heck off(could be a floriDUH dumbocrat conspiracy)!!!
This sort of childish ca ca is for the other guys.
Mebbe Bonnie swept that garbage away.
Note: Our neighborhood has a rule against any political signs. They are pretty much unnecessary because we don't have thru traffic. The only sign in the neighborhood is a Kerry sign.
Just like Kerry, they can't follow rules.
Urban renewal?
The dems probably pulled the same trick as they did down here (The Woodlands TX). A lot of houses have Bush yard signs, but we woke up last week to find Kerry signs all over the neighborhood, a lot of times right at the edge of the road, but still on our land. We, of course, pulled out the Kerry sign on our land, as did a lot of our neighbors. On Sunday I saw a letter to the editor complaining that the evil Right was pulling up Kerry signs. No context to the fact that the Kerry signs were put up on private property right in front of existing Bush signs.
Sounds like the "when did you stop beating your wife" strategy.
This way they never lose the signs, they get insurance and headlines.
Maybe the homeless are patching up their abodes after Charley came roaring through.......
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