My wife and I moved here last December after retiring from many years of teaching public school. We love the natural beauty of the island, and we have met many wonderful people. It is almost as though there is an Orcas state of mind and behavior. That’s why we were so surprised to see that campaign signs we had placed in a couple of places disappeared recently.
Several days ago, the Republican signs disappeared. Now the Democratic signs are gone. Yes, we live in very polarizing times, but we should be able to act civilly toward each other. Removing these campaign signs is not only an act of vandalism but worse, very un-Orcas-like. It takes effort to get over to San Juan Island to get signs and bring them back. We would request that the signs be returned to the places from which they were removed.
Thank you,
David and Geri Turnoy
My guess is it depends on where you put them.
Did you put them on your own property? Then yes, it is wrong and those that removed them should be ashamed of themselves.
Did you put them on somebody else’s property or on public property? If so, you shouldn’t be surprised that they disappeared. Recently all the political signs, regardless of persuasion, were removed from the intersection of Main, Orcas Rd, and Lover’s Lane. I know a sign placed in our neighborhood, on somebody else’s property, was removed.
Personally, I’d like to see all political signs removed from all public venues. These signs pop up like weeds before an election, then following the election are left to dissolve in the weather rather than be picked up by whoever planted them. Map Corner is a perfect example of this pattern.
We had the same experience on property that we owned–we placed one sign, and a neighbor who disagreed with our choice took the sign down–until the homeowner association pointed out that he had no right to trespass or remove a legally-posted sign. Last election cycle, a San Juan candidate had all his signs removed, repeatedly. Over there, free speech is OK only if you toe the party line. On Orcas, I sometimes think that there’s an underlying nonpartisan dislike of any signs–didn’t folks take down the STOP signs for a long time? It’s a shame–it’s only a few weeks and in my experience, people do tend to recover their signs.
Political signs placed along the roadside, either on public or private property, never sway me to vote one way or the other. As I drive past, I only notice that they seem very out of place on Orcas Island and temporarily ruin our lovely countryside. They are a blight that I expect to see when I arrive on the mainland.
Like them “signs” or not it does not matter, the choice of every citizen to make that choice is all that matters, and we all must respect that. At least while we still retain some Autonomy
There may be another reason for the signs being down, county code 18.04.400 (C) only allows political signs in San Juan County 45 days prior to an election and must be removed with in 72 hours after the poll closing. Since the primary has long past 72 hours, then the code enforcement officer may have removed the signs.
i wish we had a county ordinance to have NO campaign signs in any public places or on the roadside. they are a blight on these islands, no matter which party affiliations one has.
while we’re at it, can we ban those campaign robo-calls? :)