Karen Meacham has been struggling over the past week with the repeated vandalism of signs she has posted in support of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
The Wanship resident says there have been repeated incidents, the latest occurring this weekend.
Meacham told KPCW that she put out several signs in public areas about a week ago only to see them defaced with vulgarities and other negative comments.
She obtained replacement signs from the Biden campaign and put them on her own property. But those were also vandalized. Meacham said she took the signs down and cleaned them.
Meacham said she talked to Summit County Sheriff deputies who suggested that she also post no-trespassing signs on her property.
“Because our property goes down to the road, and it’s on a quite a steep hill. And we thought, maybe they think the hillside is public property, which it isn’t,” she said. “So I put up the signs, and we put up the no-trespassing signs with a little warning that the police were going to be driving by every once in a while just to make sure that nobody was writing obscenities on them. And we did pretty well for a couple of days. But this morning, when I got up, they had all been taken down. They didn’t write on them.”
She said her latest inspection, on Sunday morning, found that the no-trespassing signs were uprooted and the wire supports for the campaign signs were bent and taken down.
Meacham said that she isn’t a Democratic partisan but an independent. In fact, she is planning to put out some signs supporting Blake Moore, the Republican candidate for U.S. House District 1.
“So I’m afraid I’m going to confuse them even more,” she said.
She gave little information about the messages that had been scrawled on the signs. But Meacham did confirm that the vandal had written on one sign, “You Ain’t Black” – a reference to the candidate’s gaffe when discussing the Black vote during a recent radio interview.
“But personally, I think that is obscene,” she said. “I don’t think that we should be referring to people’s color, or religion or preferred politics on signs. I find that quite offensive.”
In reference to the gaffe referenced in the graffiti, she said it was a small issue in the context of the larger choice facing the U.S. electorate between Biden and the incumbent, President Donald Trump.
“Well, again, nobody’s perfect, okay,” she said. “I’m not fond of him saying that. I also looked at all the policies on both sides, and he has a very long history of being a good candidate. So I tried to weigh all those things against a candidate that I feel is not qualified.”
She mentioned one reaction she got from a passer-by—who, it turns out, also was a Biden supporter.
“She drove right up to my car, got out, and was very upset,” Meacham said. “She said, “Did you do this?” And I said, “No, I’m the property owner. I’m taking them down to clean them.” And she said, “I have lived here a long time. I have never seen anything like this.” And I said, “Well, I’ve been here 17 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it either. Maybe it’s a sign of the times. Maybe it’s a sign of other things.”
Meacham said her neighbors are all good people. She added that some of her friends, who are Republicans, are struggling with how to vote this year.
In the end, Meacham said she hopes this incident will be educational. She said that everyone, Democrat, independent, or Republican, has the right to express support for the candidate they choose.
That’s important, she said, given that the mood is a little different this election year.
“This is a very hostile environment this year,” Meacham said. “I haven’t seen this before, and I find it very surprising, which is part of the reason I put the signs up. I thought, everybody needs to take a step back and realize we have a two-party system. We each get to decide who we think is going to be the best candidate, and we allow each other the freedom of choice.”
