Last week all of María’s campaign signs on Estes Drive and Piney Mountain Road were stolen. Of course María is not the first candidate in our area to suffer such sabotage. One candidate in a recent town level election, for example, had nearly half of his signs stolen.

We do not know why this was done. It could be an unscrupulous potential voter trying to prevent you from knowing about María’s campaign, but it could also be a common thief taking them for the tiny amount of scrap metal in the wire frames, or someone wanting to cover over the signs and use them for a different purpose. In any case, it is a criminal act.

North Carolina General Statute § 136‑32. Regulation of signs.
(e) Penalties for Unlawful Removal of Signs. – It is a Class 3 misdemeanor for a person to steal, deface, vandalize, or unlawfully remove a political sign that is lawfully placed under this section.

If you would like to help María fight back against such unethical behavior, you have two options:

• Help us afford to replace the stolen signs by contributing whatever you can through our donations page.
• If you see anyone tampering with the signs for any candidate, call the police to report them.

It is unfortunate that any campaign should have to fight criminal sabotage of this kind, and we appreciate any help you can provide to hold thieves accountable and mitigate the damage they cause.