News

Judiciary ought to take sign vandalism seriously

By Arielle Emmett, Published: April 11, 2024

It’s no secret that Henderson County’s Democratic and Republican party road signs remain juicy targets for vandals. Routinely, political signs of both parties have been spray-painted, chain-sawed, ripped from the ground and in some instances thrown in a dump truck.

Signs convey political messages, but they’ve also become a tangible symbol of our nation’s partisan rancor. Vandals of all ages, especially in our rural areas, seem to think it’s perfectly fine to deface or destroy any message they believe comes from the “enemy,” i.e., the opposing political party.  While sign theft is itself a juvenile act, the actors aren’t always young. The few perpetrators caught thus far in Hendersonville, Saluda, Fletcher, and Mills River are primarily male, in their teens or 20s, although in one instance, a mother led her whole family to engage in wholesale sign theft.

What to do?  This past week we saw a new low:  destruction of a dual-sided Democratic Party sign posted, with permission, on the private property of an 85-year-old woman in Mills River.  One side of the sign highlighted protection of farmers and open spaces. The other argued for immigration reform and protections of migrant workers. Someone felt the need to sneak onto the woman’s property at night, perform the vandal’s version of a Jackson Pollack-style aerosol, destroying one side and crossing out “Democrat” on the other. 

It’s easy to pontificate about who did what to whom. But it’s clear from the sign count that most of the destruction is happening to signs supporting the Democratic Party, the minority party here. Defacing large signs and stealing Democratic candidate yard signs has become an annual sporting event.  A yard sign costs $6 and has a lifespan here of just a few days, sometimes only hours. Republican signs have also been stolen or defaced, but fewer are reported. 

According to Bob Hartsell, a Henderson County Democrat and messaging writer who has been tracking sign theft, one problem is that the county’s legal system doesn’t take the problem seriously.  In 2021, for example, Hartsell went to court on behalf of the local Democratic Party to face a family of accused vandals apprehended for stealing signs in October 2020 in Hendersonville.  A county judge dismissed this case in a plea deal: no fines or jail time, no civics lessons, just six hours of community service.  In 2022, in the runup to the general election, hundreds of Democratic candidate signs were stolen or destroyed throughout Henderson County. Republicans also reported sign theft and vowed to file complaints in court.

 “Sign abuse is a violation of our right of free speech,” Hartsell wrote in a victim impact statement. “If the few apprehended culprits are not punished appropriately, it will signal open season on Democratic signs. This travesty will only become worse.” 

Is there a ‘just’ punishment for sign stealers? A stiff fine, 30 hours of community service and a mandatory class in civics seems appropriate. I challenge Henderson County Republican and Democratic leaders to rein in and read the riot act to the vandals in their respective parties.

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Arielle Emmett, Ph.D., is a US Fulbright Scholar, writer and resident of Hendersonville.