BEECH GROVE, Ind. – Ahead of Indiana’s primary elections, a Marion County man says he has found a way to fight back against political vandals.
Twice over the weekend, someone snatched Edward McDonald’s campaign signs for Donald Trump.
But every time one of his signs are taken, he puts new ones out – sometimes dozens more. He wants to make the vandals’ jobs even more difficult.
“If they steal it again, I’ll put out 50 more signs, until I blanket this town in Trump signs,” McDonald said.
It’s him versus the sign-snatchers: They keep taking a few every night, and he keeps putting even more out the next day.
By all counts, he’s actually winning. As of Monday, there are far more Trump signs in Beech Grove than there were before the weekend.
“I’d rather have my car stolen than my sign taken because he was trying to squelch my free speech,” McDonald said. “So I said, ‘OK – I’ll fix that guy.’”
Meanwhile, someone posted a video to Instagram that McDonald believed featured the vandals. He thinks they posted it to brag about stealing his signs, and knows who the kids are.
But Beech Grove police say the video is actually more of a hoax than anything. Officers spoke with the teen who recorded the video. She says she recorded it walking home with friends, and that as soon as they were done, they put the sign back where they found it.
Despite the confusing battle, McDonald still says he won’t go to police. Rather, he’ll take a different tack with the kids if he ever gets to talk to them.
“We’ll have a discussion with those kids and try to use it as a teaching moment,” McDonald said. “We teach them, it’s not only incorrect and illegal, but you want to ask them, ‘Why? What’d you hope to gain by it?’ Stealing a yard sign doesn’t accomplish anything, except you think it’s kind of cool when really it’s illegal.”
And while it’s likely the signs are getting stolen, RTV6 political guru Jason Fechner kindly reminded us that some people take campaign signs not to be a menace, but to keep them as mementos.
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