The Five Man Electrical Band – Signs
Small Town
Pataskala, Ohio, will never by confused for “Biden” Country. Just a quick look at my little street, a block off the “main drag”, shows it. On the corner, two Trump signs, and multiple flags favoring the President. Two doors down, more Trump flags and signs. They’ve been up since 2016. Next door, just a simple Trump sign, also left over from the 2016 effort.
There’s no question that my Biden yard sign, and the handmade sign made by my sister and brother-in-law carefully taped to my garage door, stood out. But our neighborhood has been pretty cool about our differences. The next-door neighbor and I laughed about our “dueling” signs, and the folks down the street still wave as we go by. It’s Pataskala, we all know that there are different views, and, in general, we respect those views.
Rude Awakening
So when I was half-asleep, watching the end of the Rachel Maddow Show last night, it took a second to identify the noise at the front of the house. Was it the storm door slamming shut? But then it dawned on me, the ripping-sucking sound of duct tape getting peeled off a surface, fast.
I raced to the front door, to see a #25 jersey sprinting down the street, my sign in his hands. His fellow thieves, who already had the yard sign in the front, were yelling at him to hurry up. I hope I gave them a little bit of incentive, as I sprinted (well, probably not as “sprinted” as the old days) out the door and down the road behind them. They jumped in a waiting car, and sped off, as I tried to get a license plate from the dark colored four-door sedan. I was too late, or more likely, too slow.
It’s a high school prank, right? I remember a whole lot of those from forty years in public education, from toilet paper to getting “forked”. But I’m not working at a high school anymore. Amazingly, it’s been long enough now that there’s no one left who knew me from teaching or coaching there. So it wasn’t targeted at “Dahlman”, it was targeted at someone who dared to put “Biden Signs” on their house and property.
Intimidation
I’m sure some folks would be intimidated. A kid walked up to my house, in full view of the cameras, and ripped a sign off of the garage door. But Jenn and I didn’t feel intimidated. That didn’t even cross our minds. We were — to say it nicely, angry.
What do you do about this? Well, I called the Police, and got to see and old friend who had the swing shift patrol. We caught up, and he let me file a report. But the video isn’t that good, and without some other identification, old “#25” and his buddies probably got away with their theft. But it’s “on the record”, and if the Pataskala Police happen to pull over a car full of Biden signs there’s a reason to do something about it.
And Jenn and I went on patrol as well, checking the places we thought kids might “get rid” of the evidence. We didn’t have any luck, but we got some satisfaction checking the most likely dumpster sites.
My Hope
And since this is a social media world, we posted the picture of “#25” on Facebook, and told our story. The responses tell me that there is still hope for Pataskala, and maybe for America. As of this writing fifty-four folks have reacted to the post, many of them Trump supporters. And not one has said anything like “it serves you right” or “good for the kids”. Almost everyone who commented has supported our right to voice our opinions, even though they don’t agree.
And a few gave advice on how to protect the next signs we put up. And they are right: there will be more signs. Intimidation is the last thing on our minds. Jenn is trying to keep me from getting our camper and parking it in the driveway with full-sized Biden sign on both sides.
I won’t do that. But there will be more Biden signs in our front yard; maybe installed in a more permanent way. Because “#25” needs to learn a lesson from this old government teacher: you can’t shut up the opposition by stealing, and you can’t win an election through intimidation.
You just gave me the excuse to put more signs up.
