Romney sign burning in Leesburg considered arson
Wednesday - 10/24/2012, 12:02pm ET
http://www.wtop.com/emedia/wtop/26/2...r=wtop_article Here's what the Stevens' lawn looks like after the fire. Libby Stevens says she replaced the burned sign with a smaller one and flag. Thieves stole signs off her picket fence three times. (WTOP/Hank Silverberg)
Hank Silverberg, wtop.com
LEESBURG, Va. - It's not unusual for campaign signs to be stolen or even destroyed during the course of a political campaign. But an incident early Monday morning, involving a sign burning, is now being called arson.
Libby Stevens put up her 4-foot-by-8-foot blue and white Mitt Romney sign when the candidate himself came to Leesburg last week. It was on her front lawn, inside her white picket fence. About 2 a.m. Monday someone set the plastic sign on fire.
Stevens says it was scary to look out the window to see flames leaping into the night.
"To come into someone's gated fenced front yard and set something on fire? Something could have happened," she says.
The Loudoun County Fire Department has classified the sign burning as arson, which in this case would be a misdemeanor. If a suspect is convicted he or she could face a year in jail and a big fine.
Stevens' home is on South King Street, or route 15, which is a major commuter route into Leesburg.
Stevens says signs have been stolen from her fence before. She's replaced her smaller signs on the fence three times, even using plastic fasteners to keep them from being stolen again.
Two doors down, her neighbor also has signs up. But they are for President Obama.
Her message to whoever burned the sign: "Shame on you!"
On her lawn now, next to the scorch mark from the fire, and two empty aluminum poles, she has placed a smaller Romney sign and an American flag.
Romney sign burning in Leesburg considered arson - WTOP.com
Romney campaign sign set ablaze in Loudoun
Posted at 06:12 PM ET, 10/23/2012
By Caitlin Gibson
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/ima...EeK6MTCDypfDFA
The burning remnants of a "Romney for President" campaign sign in Leesburg. (Courtesy Jack Stevens)
For months, Loudoun County has been counted among the nation’s most hotly contested battlegrounds in the presidential election. As Nov. 6 draws closer, political tension in Leesburg has continued to mount: Campaign yard signs have been stolen, vandalized and – most recently – set on fire.
About 2 a.m. Monday, Leesburg residents Jack and Libby Stevens awoke to the sound of their dogs barking, and quickly saw that their large 4-by-8-foot sign supporting Republican candidate Mitt Romney was ablaze in the front yard.
The burning remnants of a "Romney for President" campaign sign in Leesburg. (Courtesy Jack Stevens) “What we saw was reminiscent of a [Ku Klux Klan] cross burning,” Stevens said in an e-mail. “And that may well have been the effect the perpetrators wished to achieve.”
Stevens promptly contacted the Leesburg police, who made a report, he said.
The couple had previously reported the theft of smaller “Romney for President” signs that had been cut off a fence on their property several weeks ago, Stevens said.
“Theft and defacing of political signs is wrong and annoying,” he said. “But lighting a front yard sign on fire is much more serious.”
Stevens said he would “feel just as strongly about this kind of assault had the sign belonged to one of my neighbors,” many of whom display signs supporting President Obama.
Loudoun Supervisor Kenneth D. Reid (R-Leesburg) said in an e-mail that the incident was unprecedented in his experience.
“In my 10 years of being involved in politics in this country, I have never heard of a lawn sign – political or non-political – being burned to the ground,” he said.
Election cycles are typically heated in Loudoun, and there are often reports of stolen signs, Reid said.
“But burning a sign that is legally placed on private property is heinous and despicable and could have caused harm to people and property,” he said. “This is so out of character with Leesburg and Loudoun County.”
Reid also noted that “rogue volunteers” for both the Obama and Romney campaigns had put up signs in the medians of roads in Leesburg and Ashburn, which is illegal.
Stevens said he planned to replace the destroyed Romney sign as soon as possible. His front yard is marred by scorched grass, he said.
“Two large metal stakes driven into our yard are all that remains of the sign,” he said. “My wife placed the American flag atop one of them.”
Romney campaign sign set ablaze in Loudoun - Virginia Politics - The Washington Post
