Gary Stone’s “Bernie 2016” sign survived two 60 mph Whidbey Island windstorms but not a bout with a yahoo armed with spray paint.
The Oak Harbor man built a 4-by-8 foot sign promoting democratic candidate Bernie Sanders for president and placed it at the corner of Arnold Road and State Highway 20 about a week ago at the request of the property owner.
The sign is large and it’s located at a prominent location with thousands of cars whizzing past daily.
Someone spray-painted “Trump Will Win” and doodled what looks like either a cluster of cherries or male genitalia on top of the candidate’s name.
This isn’t Stone’s first time at the rodeo — he expected something bad might happen. He’s a carpenter and he’s made a few political signs in his time.
“If you are in the middle of something with two distinct sides, this is what happens,” he said.
Stone has lived on the island for nearly four decades. He owned a cabinet building business in Oak Harbor.
Despite being a left-leaning kind of guy in a Navy town, politics didn’t seem to be much of an issue, he said. That’s changed with this political contest, which seems more divisive than usual.
The Island County Sheriff’s Department does investigate vandalized signs but it’s a low priority, said sheriff Mark Brown.
In 2013 his department looked into signs that criticized Navy jet noise that were placed near Jones Road and Highway 20. During local elections, he’s heard from Island County commissioner candidates who also had their signs defaced.
“It is a property crime,” he said. “They cost money and if someone knocks them down or defaces them, that’s malicious mischief.”
In this case, it was reported, but since there was no information available about who might have done it, there’s nothing deputies can do.
It’s difficult to find the culprit.
“If someone reports it, yes, we would look into it,” he said. “It’s a low solvability crime.”
Stone plans to fix the sign.
And he also plans to support his candidate at the caucus Saturday.
“It will be easy to fix,” he said.
