Powder Mountain Update: The Big City Political Sign Vandalism Problem Migrates to Formerly Bucolic Ogden Valley

The Weber County Sheriff's Department joins the hunt for the responsible political villains

Over the course of the past few years, we've published a variety of articles focusing on one of the most annoying aspects of political campaigning, lawn sign vandalism, e.g., the defacement or outright theft of political candidates' campaign lawnsigns. In truth, the problem goes considerably beyond mere annoyance. Political signage doesn't come cheap, especially when the labor expense of installation and maintenance is factored into the equation. Not only that, we believe that middle of the night pilferage of political signage strikes at the very heart of our American Democracy. Ask any experienced campaign manager and they'll tell you this: Political lawnsigns are very important factor in any successful political campaign.

It's with this in mind that we direct our readers' attention to a story which appears on the front page of this morning's Standard-Examiner. According to reporter Di Lewis, Ogden City's political sign vandalism problem seems now to have migrated up the canyon, and anti-Powderville political activists in the formerly bucolic Ogden Valley are even now finding themselves plagued by the problems of Big City Politics, as they watch their own political campaign signs vanish seemingly into thin air:

• Powder Mountain protesters can't keep their say-so in sight

We were pleased to learn from this morning's story that the Weber County Sheriff's Department is now on the job, seeking to apprehend the villainous lawn sign vandal (or vandals) responsible for the latest political sign purloinage; and we further found this story passage to be particularly encouraging:

Protesters don't know who stole the signs but gave a list of suspects to the Weber County Sheriff's Office when they reported the incidents, said Darla VanZeben, Powder Mountain resident.

The Weber County Sheriff's Office is a top-notch law enforcement agency; so we'll presume for at least the moment that the names of certain local known prior offenders were not inadvertently omitted from Sheriff Brad Slater's referenced suspect list.

We're confident that Weber County's Finest will leave no stone unturned in their ongoing investigation, of course, and that they'll ultimately place these pernicious perpetrators exactly where they belong... in the slam.

Take it away, O Gentle Ones.