With Indiana being a swing state this year, you'd think the hot topic would be about whether we go red or blue on November 4th.
But no.
Actually, the hot topic around here is campaign sign vandalism. Some of the vandals are bored kids -- as you would think the case normally is, but oddly enough, more of the vandals are grown adults who take it upon themselves to let others know what's thought of their candidate. What's even more odd is that in a usually strongly Republican state, it's happening to both parties' candidates.
Putnam County -- Political yard signs are being stolen or vandalized, and local party leaders are calling for civility.
It's against the law to remove yard signs unless you're the property owner, give someone permission to remove them or find them blocking the right of way. That's not stopping someone in Putnam County from doing just that on both sides of the aisle.
Jenny Heithaus shows her support for Barack Obama with a sign in her front yard.
"Sunday morning I made it," she said.
That's because Heithaus says someone took the Obama sign she got from the campaign office.
"At first I thought I'd file a police report about this because it's not right," she said. "At first I got really angry and then I made this and I felt better."
"Many of them have been stolen," said Marla Helton, an Obama supporter. "We know some have been burnt."
With not many campaign signs left to go around, some supporters are opting to make their own signs.
But it's not just Obama-Biden supporters having problems. The McCain-Palin folks have lost signs too.
"We had several signs that were burned in people's yards," said Larry Sutton, Republican Party chairman for Putnam County. "Probably someone just came along and set them on fire with a cigarette lighter or a match."
Both sides say it's difficult to catch who's doing it. "Unless there's an eyewitness, how are you going to prove it?" wondered Sutton.
"What they don't realize, and I want to emphasize this, they're not realizing the cost in dollars and time it takes to get these signs up," said Bud Sharp, treasurer of the Putnam County Democratic Party.
"It has to be someone who thinks it's fun or someone who thinks, gee, if I take this I'll be helping my candidate. But they're not people involved in the political process. I'd bet on it," said Sutton.
"I think it's a problem we need to address on both sides of the party lines," said Helton.
Jenny Heithaus wants to keep it civil. "I should get another poster that says 'please don't steal my Obama sign.'"
"The sun will come up tomorrow whoever wins," added Sharp.
And there's this coming out of Fort Wayne:
The good news? Someone was just caught. Indy's WISH TV ran a story the other night about someone in Johnson County who set up a camera outside their home in hopes of catching the person -- who turned out to be some soccer mom in a SUV who pulled over and proceeded to tear up the guy's new Obama sign. If she can afford gas for her vehicle, then she can surely afford restitution for property damage.
Really, fellow Hoosiers, they're just cardboard and wire. Unless someone placed a sign on your property without your permission, there's no need to get so ridiculous about this.
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