Letter To The Editor: Frustration Over Sign Thefts

READING, MA — The following letter to the editor was submitted by Forest Glen Road resident Rebecca Bailey.

To the Editor:

I'm writing to express my dismay at two incidents of lawn-sign theft this past week. On two different days, a pile of signs was found dumped on Wescroft Rd. and many yards around town were missing their signs. The signs found in the piles were mostly Biden-Harris campaign signs, with a few Black Lives Matter and other social-justice topics as well, based on pictures posted to Facebook. My own Biden-Harris sign was missing the day the first pile was found. (I have three other political signs that were untouched, making it feel very targeted.)

First of all, this represents trespassing and theft, and I'm told police were notified. But I’m also just sickened that anyone in our town would stoop to this. No matter whom you are supporting in this admittedly contentious election, I’d like to think we can all agree that everyone has the right to express their support for candidates by way of lawn signs, with the expectation that one’s personal property will be a safe place for that expression. The theft of these specific signs is pure bullying, which I think we all hate to see. The fact that someone thinks they can do this with impunity is quite disturbing.

If anyone has footage from a doorbell or security camera that might help identify the person(s) responsible for the thefts, I encourage you to share it with the Reading Police. But I also encourage everyone to remember that we are all neighbors, and have far more in common than what may divide us. None of us wants to live in a town where such disrespect is acceptable behavior, and we all want what’s best for our families and our town. We may disagree on what that looks like, but rather than bully each other over our expressed views, let’s have civil conversations on the issues — a far more productive way to move forward — and go from there.

Rebecca Bailey
Forest Glen Road