Ledger-Dispatch

By Raheem Hosseini (editor@ledger-dispatch.com= )=20

Sutter Creek resident Laurie Vela shows = off the=20 sign she made after her Obama/Biden disappeared earlier this = month.

Photo by: Raheem=20 Hosseini
It became almost = comical.

Three=20 times Dr. Arnold Zeiderman had put up campaign signs supporting the = McCain/Palin=20 ticket at the corner of his Jackson practice and three times they were=20 mysteriously removed. The third time, Zeiderman nailed his sign to a = tree. A=20 couple of days later, it too had disappeared.

"If somebody wants = to do=20 it, they can get away with it," he said neutrally. "I don't look for = things to=20 get upset about."

That's not the mood at the local headquarters = for both=20 the Republican and Democratic central committees, where representatives = have=20 reported an increase in complaints from local party members whose signs = have=20 gone missing.

Lois MacDonald, who works at the Republican = headquarters,=20 told the Ledger Dispatch via e-mail the committee has had people coming = in=20 almost every day to replace stolen signs. At the Democratic = headquarters, which=20 started distributing Obama/Biden signs about two weeks ago, Judy = Hotchkiss said=20 she and her fellow volunteers immediately received a few complaints, = "and=20 they've been trickling in since then."

Those taken included = Obama/Biden=20 signs from the home of a former Sutter Creek police officer, one off a = fence=20 bordering a residential property at the corner of Jackson Valley Road = and=20 Highway 88, and one from a house on Patricia Lane in Sutter = Creek.

Laurie=20 Vela lives at that house. She was walking her 8-year-old son to Sutter = Creek=20 Elementary School one Thursday morning. When she returned, she noticed = her lawn=20 sign was missing. Unsure of whether it was taken that morning or the = night=20 before, Vela went into her garage and cobbled together a replacement = sign with a=20 piece of yellow construction paper and a red marker. On her front lawn = for the=20 next week was her makeshift creation, stating in capital letters, = "FREEDOM OF=20 SPEECH."

The morning after her discovery, Vela laughed about the = missing=20 sign. Neighbors had contacted the Democratic committee on her behalf and = a=20 volunteer drove out a replacement sign later that afternoon. She kept = both signs=20 in her front yard for more than a week, but now just the official = Obama/Biden=20 sign is displayed.

"I think it's really unpatriotic," Vela said = of the=20 thefts, which she heard were happening to both Democrats and Republicans = in the=20 county. "It's a very fundamental right to the freedom of=20 speech."

Zeiderman, too, heard both parties were being targeted. = "I don't=20 think there's some big conspiracy to take down McCain signs," he=20 said.

Thus far, only the Amador County Sheriff's Office has = received an=20 official criminal complaint, which came for a stolen McCain/Palin sign. = That may=20 very well have been Zeiderman's neighbor in Sutter Creek, who told the = doctor=20 she contacted the sheriff's office after being victimized. Nevertheless, = the=20 lack of police involvement could suggest stolen campaign signs aren't = provoking=20 extreme partisan ire. It is, after all, something that happens every = election,=20 according to Hotchkiss and County Assessor Jim Rooney, chairman of the=20 Republican Central Committee. And both Hotchkiss and Zeiderman have = heard unruly=20 teenagers may be behind at least some of the thefts.

"It happens = to local=20 candidates as well," Hotchkiss said, recalling signs supporting Mel = Welsh for=20 District 5 supervisor that were taken down in 2006. And when Rooney ran = six=20 years ago, his challenger for county assessor reported several campaign = signs=20 missing. Of course, Rooney found himself the No. 1 suspect. Curious, he = went to=20 the California Department of Transportation office in Pine Grove and = learned=20 Caltrans workers had themselves removed many of the signs because they = were=20 placed in public right-of-ways.

On Vela's street, there are = several=20 untouched signs supporting both presidential and local candidates, as = well as a=20 few state propositions. They have stood visibly displayed for weeks = without any=20 tampering. So if there is a larger plot to muffle freedom of speech, it=20 certainly isn't organized.

When Zeiderman discovered his = McCain/Palin=20 sign missing for the third time, he noted with some amusement that a = sign=20 supporting Wayne Garibaldi's re-election to the Jackson City Council had = been=20 untouched.

"So," Zeiderman quipped, "he must be popular."

Raheem = Hosseini