Police investigate Obama supporter's missing sign, ominous message in anonymous letter

[seabeyond]

On Monday she placed a political sign supporting President Barack Obama on her lawn in the 1400 block of Clover Drive. The next day, the sign was gone.

Silva thought little of it until she opened her mail a few days later.

She found a letter — stamped with no return address — with a picture of a dismembered baby and the words “Obama: pro-death baby killer” marked in all caps across the bottom of the page, Silva and Amarillo police said.

“This has gone beyond debate. It’s hate,” she said. “We should all have the right to voice our opinion.”

Silva called police, and officers collected the letter as evidence.

Amarillo police Sgt. Brent Barbee said while officers have seen direct or personal threats by mail, he never has run across a case like Silva’s. Prosecutors will review it to determine whether a crime was committed, he said.

*

“I hope people will be
respectful of each other,” she said.

Potter County Republican Chairwoman Tonya Detten echoed that sentiment.

“I condemn that behavior,” she said. “That kind of behavior is atrocious.”

http://m.amarillo.com/news/local-news/2012-09-20/police-eye-sign-theft-ominous-message

[aquart]

1. When my sister's Obama sign was stolen, she put up one that said "Thou shalt not steal."

[seabeyond]

2. oh, that is cute. hubby sent me the article. i asked him, so...

does this mean we put up signs to support silvia or we do not put up signs cause we are afraid....

lol

ah ha.

i am gonna get me some signs.

[surrealAmerican]

3. How do they know that the theft of the sign was ...

... connected to the letter writer? They could easily be unrelated incidents by two different people.

[DURHAM D]

12. Really?

[surrealAmerican]

25. Yes, really.

You think there's only one hater in her neighborhood or something?

The sort of people who stealthily take people's signs are usually not the same sort who send hate mail.
They might have similar motives, yet these seem like very different crimes somehow.

[Indpndnt]

13. It had to be someone that noticed her sign and knows she's an Obama supporter.

Even if they are two different people stealing the sign and sending the letter, the sentiment is the same. Both incidents should be investigated.

[Borchkins]

17. Possibly. . .

That's why there should be an investigation.

[louis-t]

4. Repugs can't win in a fair fight.

They have to cheat, lie, steal, threaten, intimidate.... It's their ideology.

[malaise]

6. That's why we call them

ReTHUGs

[liberal N proud]

5. I have been trying to think of ways to handle these petty thugs

I too have signs stolen. I even caught a group on night stealing my sign.

I have thought of different methods to either thwart the thieves or at least make it miserable for them.

My first idea was to hook the wire up to an electric fence transformer, but then PETA would get for cruelty to animals (the thugs).
Then I thought about putting a dye packet inside with a wire attached to the ground, when they ran with it, it would open all over them. That is a lot of trouble unless you have access to the dye packs used by banks.

My latest idea has to do with coating the sign with something they would get all over them. It would have to be something that could be applied after the sign was put in the yard, something that will not set up or dry up and it has to be something that would be obnoxious.

I am thinking that if you coated the sign with a thin layer of mentholated rub, it would stink really well, wouldn't be visible until you grabbed the sign and would get all over your clothes as you were running away with the sign.

[KurtNYC]

8. Get 10 signs

Put them one out. If it is gone then immediately put up another as if nothing happened.

I wonder if anyone has tried a GPS tracker like the one embedded in the 'fast and furious' gun stocks.

[catbyte]

11. Now, now. Animals have MUCH MORE integrity than those Teabilly haters

Please don't insult our friends in the animal kingdom!

[Indpndnt]

15. Take them in at night.

Or get a motion-activated light and a motion-activated sprinkler. <-- My vote.

[hifiguy]

18. Someone on DU had a great post about this four years ago.

I think their solution was to rub habanero extract or pure capsaicin on the edges of the sign. If the thieving goofballs touch that and then happen to touch nose, eyes, or other tender bits they will be in a world of hurt. It doesn't wash off very easily either.

[NBachers]

30. Bird-B-Gone - a sticky repulsive ooze that's hard to get off

[liberal N proud]

34. Some great ideas here

My devious mind is turning.

[Care Acutely]

35. Thank You! I think I'll do that :-)

[EC]

33. How about some of those

hunting scent sprays? Really make them stink if they get it on them. Deer urine?

[Ikonoklast]

37. Ahem. I've heard of this being done by...someone...who has had their Democratic yard signs stolen

In trucking, there is a type of grease used for lubricating the fifth wheel of a tractor that is impregnated with graphite.

It is incredibly tacky, almost complete waterproof, immediately stains whatever fabric it touches, and is almost impossible to wash off of any surface without scrubbing with a solvent like brake cleaner (and even then, still makes a huge mess), and is dirt cheap.

Never dries out, never loses its tack.

If you get some on you and don't realize it, you end up spreading it EVERYWHERE.

Not toxic unless you eat it.

Coat the edges and the legs of any sign with the graphite-based fifth-wheel grease.

Unless the thief uses gloves and doesn't touch the grease to anything else in any way, the resulting mess might give them pause next time.

[LiberalFighter]

38. What are the odds that the person might be allergic to peanuts or something?

Attaching a sign large enough to it suggesting that peanut dust or other items might have been coated on the sign.

[Laxman]

7. In 2008...

We had an Obama sign on our front lawn in a neighborhood where we've lived for over 20 years. The sign was stolen and in our mailbox was an anonymous letter full of the nastiest most vile and personal comments about us and how dare we support Obama... obviously from one of our neighbors. At the time I was working out of town from Monday to Friday and it was very unnerving to leave my wife and kids back home. It had to be one of our neighbors because of the personal nature of the letter. What hateful and deranged people. Cowardly too. If you have something to say, say it to me directly. Not like they couldn't find me cutting my grass or walking down the street. But then again, I guess confronting a 6'2" 250lb guy face to face might have been a bit much for them. However, this is the nature of the modern day republican. Mean, nasty, hateful and cowardly. I'm still proud to be an Obama supporter in my uber-conservative town.

[liberal N proud]

9. If they put something in your mailbox without paying postage, it is a federal crime

Call the postmaster general if that happens again.

[seabeyond]

10. 2004 i had 11 bumper stickers on my car. i actually had a man jump out of his car

at a stop light, pound on my window until i rolled down, and told me how much he LOVED my stickers. i had one young guy stop me and say... that is YOUR car? i heard about YOUR car. lol. they were polite and positive stickers, but all with a message for progressive, love, peace, smart....

2004 adn 2008 we had yard signs. i live on a corner. huge lot. so i needed four to place them where i was hitting so much area.

never had a sign stolen. or anyone say anything. all repug here. most know i am a liberal. it is a house people in town know for different reasons. and know husband cause of his circle and business. he never had a problem.

i expected issues. i was pleasantly surprised.

though.... after 2006 election where we got the house, i had three incidents in a row that was aggressive young white boys/men and that got me to take my stickers off.

[Indpndnt]

19. I'm impressed. I've never heard that Amarillo is that tolerant.

Good to know! We hang empty chairs here.

[seabeyond]

22. yowser... that is something. i read that happened somewhere.

where? kansas? seems like lots of shit happens in kansas. lol

[Indpndnt]

28. Nope.

Austin.

[seabeyond]

29. oh, really. and i am trying to get son down there cause it is way more liberal

than the panhandle and he is off to college next year.

lol, huh

[Indpndnt]

31. Oh, it is! That's one of the reasons this is so aggravating.

But that happened in the suburbs (about 12 miles or so from downtown) and is an isolated case.

[seabeyond]

32. yes. i know. more a tease...

we find the bigotry in all areas. that is why it is bullshit when florida and texas are exculsively attacked. it is everywhere.

lets see, .... blue state of calif (where i am from) gave us reagan.

[hifiguy]

14. There are a certain number of unhinged assholes out there

no matter where you are. Some brave culture warriors here in Minneapolis killed a cat and left it staked to an Obama sign a few weeks back.

There are a lot of bent arrows walking around that should be in nice soft places that are surrounded by razor wire.

[seabeyond]

23. incredibly sad and horrible.

another wow

[hifiguy]

26. Yes it was. And Minneapolis is about as blue

a city as can be imagined. Can't imagine what it's like in areas where there are a lot of baggers and fundies. I live in a racially mixed family area - quite a few little kids - and all I see are Obama stickers and signs against the constitutional amendment barring marriage equality. So I can't complain much.

[daleanime]

16. Whether a crime was committed?

[msanthrope]

20. Pro-Lifers, probably. nt

[seabeyond]

24. absolutely. strong in this area. nt

[HappyMe]

21. That's sad and creepy.

We had someone scrawl 'asshole' on our Clinton signs. My ex called the local Dem office and they brought us a huge Clinton sign.
They left that one alone.

[get the red out]

27. Sign of the times

I almost didn't even put an Obama sticker on my car since I've only had it a year and live in Kentucky, where the lady got stomped on the ground at a Tea Party rally for Rand Paul a couple of years ago. The sticker I did use is very small and on my back windshield. I admit to being afraid of tea party types, they aren't known for sanity or the desire for discourse.

I miss the way things were in my childhood, nobody cared what other neighbors' politics were except in passing. There wasn't much threat of violence or harassment.

[meow2u3]

36. Looks like one of those anti-abortion extremists hard at work

I don't call those terrorists pro-life because if they were, they wouldn't be accusing Democrats of being the baby killers they are.

[hootinholler]

39. Buy a trail camera or two

You will have photos of the person actually stealing the sign. Then you may have grounds for a first amendment suit, they committed a crime to deny your rights.

[L0oniX]

40. Republican at work.

[jdadd]

41. I had four, or five, John Kerry signs stolen

I finally wired one up,to my electric fence charger, leaving the wire in plain sight....that one got left alone. I lived in a rural area at that time, most folks around me, knew what an electric fence looks like.....