In the heat of an emotional campaign season, if only we could all get along like Cheryl Roberts Lee and Joe Zuber, longtime neighbors who disagree each political cycle with a flock of competing yard signs.
But even in Durango, neighborliness seems to go only so far, with a spate of stolen and defaced signs leading the Durango Police Department to post on its Facebook page that it is getting reports of damaged or stolen campaign signs “all over town.”
Roberts Lee and Zuber are on opposite sides politically and conduct a friendly competition with yard signs in an effort to sway drivers headed up the hill on North College Drive.
“We have philosophical conversations in the yard, and we do express ourselves, but civilly,” Roberts Lee, the Democratic neighbor said.
Zuber moved into his house 26 years ago and has been putting up signs in his yard each election cycle since. “There’s a history lesson in my garage,” he said of old campaign signs he collects.
Roberts Lee moved in eight years ago, and when she saw her neighbor’s GOP signs go up, she thought it was important to give some publicity to the other side.
“We’re such a busy street. We have so much traffic, we should let people know what we’re thinking,” she said.
Unfortunately, Durango’s problem with stolen political signs has hit the friendly neighbors’ competition on North College Drive – Zuber said seven Trump/Pence signs and one sign for Lauren Boebert, Republican candidate for the 3rd U.S. Congressional District, have been stolen from his yard.
Roberts Lee reports she hasn’t yet lost any of her signs.
“I was surprised when Joe told me he had problems with signs being stolen. That’s so inappropriate,” she said.
On Thursday, Roberts Lee had just returned to her house with eight nonpartisan red, white and blue “VOTE” signs she plans to distribute.
“I’m hoping these signs will bring us all together in the neighborhood,” she said. “You’re one person, and you have one vote, and we all should vote.”
Zuber isn’t letting his stolen Trump/Pence signs stop his proselytizing.
Little do the thieves know he keeps a healthy reserve in his garage to replace any stolen placards.
The loss of Trump signs are nothing new for Zuber, who said he lost Trump signs at about the same rate in 2016.
Travis Oliger, chairman of the La Plata County Republican Party, said Trump/Pence yard signs are being stolen to such an extent that he’s sending each person requesting yard signs home with at least six of them to replace stolen or defaced signs.
“If I give somebody a sign, I give them six,” he said. “And I tell them to put them up one at a time after they get stolen or vandalized. Virtually every single person I have given a sign to is having problems.”
Two months ago, Oliger had 7,000 Trump/Pence signs shipped to him, and despite getting hit with stolen signs, he said, “We’re not going to run out.”
Oliger said he’s not too surprised Trump signs are being stolen.
“You know, it’s been this way for 3½ years,” he said.
Carol Cure, chairwoman of La Plata County Democrats, said she’s also fielded calls from at least six people concerning the theft of Biden/Harris signs.
Like Oliger, she said the problem doesn’t appear to be as severe with down ballot races.
“I should call Travis and see if maybe he wants to join me in putting something on the Herald website jointly asking people to leave political signs alone,” she said.
Zuber has caught fleeting glances of people who have made off with his yard signs, and has an idea of who they are, but he said he’s never gotten a good enough view to get a license plate number.
“I want to get the word out about who I support,” he said. “Durango is pretty liberal. It’s not conservative like when I first moved here. So I think it’s more important than ever to get the word out about the candidates I support and believe in.”
parmijo@durangoherald.com
